Simple three-dimensional laser angle sensor for three-dimensional small-angle measurement.

A simple three-dimensional (3D) laser angle sensor for 3D measurement of small angles based on the diffraction theorem and on ray optics analysis is presented. The possibility of using position-sensitive detectors and a reflective diffraction grating to develop a 3D angle sensor was investigated and a prototype 3D laser angle sensor was designed and built. The system is composed of a laser diode, two position-sensitive detectors, and a reflective diffraction grating. The diffraction grating, mounted upon the rotational center of a 3D rotational stage, divides an incident laser beam into several diffracted rays, and two position-sensitive detectors are set up for detecting the positions of +/-1st-order diffracted rays. According to the optical path relationship between the three angular motions and the output coordinates of the two position-sensitive detectors, the 3D angles can be obtained through kinematic analysis. The experimental results show the feasibility of the proposed 3D laser angular sensor. Use of this system as an instrument for high-resolution measurement of small-angle rotation is proposed.