A fast automatic plate changer for the analysis of nuclear emulsions

This paper describes the design and performance of a computer controlled emulsion Plate Changer for the automatic placement and removal of nuclear emulsion films for the European Scanning System microscopes. The Plate Changer is used for mass scanning and measurement of the emulsions of the OPERA neutrino oscillation experiment at the Gran Sasso lab on the CNGS neutrino beam. Unlike other systems it works with both dry and oil objectives. The film changing takes less than 20 s and the accuracy on the positioning of the emulsion films is about 10 mu m. The final accuracy in retrieving track coordinates after fiducial marks measurement is better than 1 mu m