A displacement servosystem for muscle research permitting 50 micrometers length changes within 40 microseconds

In order to determine the tension response of a stimulated intact muscle fibre to a very fast length change a servo system has been developed capable of imposing a displacement of 50 micrometers i.e. about 1% of the fibre length, within 40 microseconds. The system is designed so as to limit the displacement overshoot to less then 1%. This paper presents the performance of the system: both unloaded and loaded with a muscle fibre.