PI (Physik Instrumente) is a privately owned global leader in precision motion control, nanopositioning, and sensor technologies. For more than 50 years, PI has designed and manufactured world-class motion solutions, including piezo nanopositioning systems, capacitive nanometrology sensors, fast steering mirrors, fast focusing devices, air-bearing stages, and advanced automation platforms. With engineering and manufacturing facilities across North America, Europe, and Asia, PI employs more than 1,900 people in 15 countries and serves leading companies, research institutions, and OEMs worldwide.
PI's precision motion and sensing technologies enable demanding applications across industrial metrology, optical inspection, semiconductor manufacturing, photonics, aerospace, medical technology, autonomous systems, and scientific research. By combining nanopositioning expertise with high-performance sensor technologies, PI helps customers achieve exceptional accuracy, repeatability, and reliability in measurement and sensing applications.
A core competency of PI is its family of capacitive position sensors, which provide non-contact displacement measurement with nanometer and sub-nanometer resolution. These high-precision sensing systems are widely used in metrology, semiconductor equipment, scientific instrumentation, and precision manufacturing environments where accurate position feedback is essential for process control and measurement accuracy.
PI's piezo nanopositioning systems, equipped with integrated capacitive sensor feedback, deliver industry-leading precision for optical sensing, microscopy, interferometry, spectroscopy, and advanced measurement applications. Their ability to position samples, optics, and sensors with nanometer accuracy enables researchers and manufacturers to maximize the performance of highly sensitive optical sensing systems.
The company is also a leading supplier of fast steering mirror (FSM) systems, providing high-bandwidth beam steering and stabilization for advanced sensing applications. Fast steering mirrors are commonly used in LiDAR systems, where precise beam pointing and rapid response improve scanning performance, measurement accuracy, and object detection capabilities. PI FSM technology also supports optical tracking, remote sensing, and adaptive optical systems that require dynamic beam control.
For distance measurement, optical metrology, and high-speed inspection applications, PI offers fast focusing devices based on piezoelectric actuation technology. These systems enable rapid focal adjustment without mechanical wear, supporting high-throughput measurement systems, laser triangulation sensors, optical profilers, confocal microscopy, and distance-sensing applications that require both speed and accuracy.
With extensive in-house engineering expertise and a broad portfolio of proven motion and sensing technologies, PI can rapidly adapt existing products or develop fully customized solutions tailored to specific application requirements. From capacitive nanometrology sensors and piezo actuators to complete nanopositioning and sensing subsystems, PI provides the precision, reliability, and innovation required to help customers advance the next generation of measurement, inspection, and sensing technologies.
Primary Activity
Supplier of micropositioning and nanopositioning solutions for many high-tech markets.