Displacement detector

• US 7,394,550 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2005
• Issued: 07/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitutoyo Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitutoyo Corporation
• Inventors: Takahashi, Tomotaka, Nihommori, Shingo
• Primary Examiner(s): Connolly; Patrick
• Assistant Examiner(s): Skovholt; Jonathan
• Application Number:
  US11/313,082
• Publication Number:
  US 20060139654A1
• Time in Patent Office: 924 Days
• Field of Search: 356/499, 356/521, 250/237.G
• US Class Current: 356/499
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 5/34715 Scale reading or illumination devices
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 5/34746 Linear encoders
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 5/38 by diffraction gratings

Abstract

The displacement detector includes: a light source 140; a beam splitter 170 for dividing the light, which is sent from the light source 140, into two beams of light; reflection mirrors 181, 182 provided for the two beams of light sent from the beam splitter 170, for reflecting these two beams of light and making them incident upon a scale 110; and corner cubes 191, 192 provided for the beams of diffracted light, which are generated when two beams of light incident upon the scale 110 are diffracted by the diffraction grating 111, wherein the corner cubes 191, 192 retroreflect the diffracted light and make the light incident upon the scale as retroreflected light. The incident angle to grating groove formed between the incident light and the normal line vector of the scale is larger than the diffraction angle formed between the retroreflected light and the normal line vector of the scale.

Claims

1. A displacement detector comprising:

a scale having a diffraction grating; and

a detection head, which is arranged being capable of relatively moving with respect to the scale, emitting interference light to the scale and receiving diffracted light sent from the scale,

the detection head including;

a light source emitting the interference light;

a light dividing section for dividing light, which has been sent from the light source, into two beams of light;

an optical element, which is arranged for each of the two beams of light sent from the light dividing section, for reflecting the beam of light sent from the light dividing section and making the beam of light be incident upon the scale as incident light; and

a retroreflector, which is arranged for each of the beams of diffracted light generated when the two beams of light incident upon the scale are diffracted by the diffraction grating, for retroreflecting the diffracted light and making the light be incident upon the scale as retroreflected light,

wherein the incident light and the retroreflected light are incident in a direction perpendicular to a diffraction grating groove, and an angle formed between the incident light and the normal line vector of the scale is larger than an angle formed between the retroreflected light and the normal line vector of the scale.

2. A displacement detector according to claim 1, wherein the scale includes a reflection type diffraction grating, the optical element and the retroreflector are arranged on a face perpendicular to the diffraction grating groove, and the optical element is arranged on a closer side to the scale than the retroreflector.

3. A displacement detector according to claim 2, wherein the light dividing section is a polarization beam splitter, one portion of the incident light, which is polarized by 45°

with respect to the polarizing direction of the polarization beam splitter, is transmitted through the polarization beam splitter, another portion of the incident light is reflected by the polarization beam splitter so that the light is divided into two beams of light respectively having the polarizing directions which are perpendicular to each other,

the detection head portion includes a phase retardation plate on which under the condition that the polarizing direction of the light emitted from the light source and reflected on the polarization beam splitter is rotated, the light is incident upon the reflection type diffraction grating and the polarizing direction of the light, which is obtained when this incident light is reflected and diffracted by the reflection type diffraction grating, is rotated again so that the light can be made into polarization light substantially perpendicular to the polarizing direction of the polarization beam splitter, and

the reflection type diffraction grating is composed of a thin metallic film having a polarization characteristic in which incident light is reflected and diffracted under the condition that the polarizing direction is maintained.

4. A displacement detector according to claim 3, wherein the detecting head portion includes a glass member arranged on a reflection face side of the reflection type diffraction grating.

5. A displacement detector according to claim 2, wherein the retroreflector is arranged closer to the scale side than the line connecting the light dividing section and the optical element.