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In this study, a novel linear encoder (LE) based on common-optical-path design is proposed for displacement measurement. The system configuration of the proposed LE is simple and can be easy to setup, it consists of a laser diode (LD) light source, V-shape prism, beam-splitter, mirror and grating. According to our proposed method, the beams of reference and measurement can be obtained when a light beam outcoming from the LD passes through a specified V-shape prism. By using the design concept of common-optical-path, the reference and measurement beams will move together, which means the two beams will suffer from the same environmental disturbances. Surrounding disturbances can then be compensated in the interference signal making the system much less sensitive to environmental disturbances. Moreover, the proposed LE also takes advantage of a “double-diffraction” optical configuration, which directs diffracted beams to propagate a grating twice, thereby enhancing the phase change induced by grating displacement, effectively improving the sensitivity of the LE. By means of measuring the phase variations of the interfering signals resulting from the moving grating, the displacement information can be acquired. To demonstrate the performances of the proposed LE, two main experiments have been carried out. First, in order to obtain a forward and backward displacement information, a commercial micro-positioning stage and stepper stage were driven with different waveform motions and strokes. This allowed testing of short and long displacements with different motion behaviors. Second, the tests of a step-like function and a long-term stationary were used to infer the system repeatability and stability, respectively. Based on the experimental results, the proposed LE has the ability to measure large displacements with a resolution of 1.7 nm. The repeatability of the system was found to be less than 1.9 nm together with a long-term stability of about 11.1 nm.
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