Home/Technical Glossary/Scan Head Scan Head A scan head consists of two mirrors, each mounted on very small rotary motors, called galvanometers or “galvos ” for short. These two mirrors and motors are mounted orthogonally to each other such that the rotary motion of the two mirrors translates to linear motion in the X- and Y-axis. The small size of the motors provides high-speed positioning, short settling times, and high acceleration and deceleration, which is ideal for high-speed, short-distance motion.