Disclosed herein is a high throughput optical scanning device and methods of use. The optical scanning device and methods of use provided herein can allow high throughput scanning of a continuously moving object with a high resolution despite fluctuations in stage velocity. This can aid in high throughput scanning of a substrate, such as a biological chip comprising fluorophores. Also provided herein are improved optical relay systems and scanning optics.

An encoder including an emitter to emit a waveform to a scene including a structure. A receiver to receive the waveform reflected from the scene and to measure phases of the received waveform for a period of time. A memory to store a signal model relating phase measurements of the received waveform with phase parameters, and to store a state model relating the phase parameters with a state of the encoder. Wherein the signal model includes a motion-induced polynomial phase signal (PPS) component and a sinusoidal frequency modulated (FM) component. Wherein the PPS component is a polynomial function of the phase parameters, and wherein the FM component is a sinusoidal function of the phase parameters. A processor to determine the phase parameters using non-linear mapping of the phase measurements on the signal model and to determine the state of the encoder by submitting the phase parameters into the state model.

A position detection apparatus configured to detect a position of a test object includes a scale in which a plurality of patterns are arranged at cycles different from one another, a sensor configured to detect the plurality of patterns and to output a signal corresponding to a position of the test object relative to the scale, a first position calculator configured to calculate an absolute position of the test object based on the signal from the sensor, a determiner configured to determine a precision of the absolute position of the test object based on the signal from the sensor, and a controller configured to determine whether or not position information of the absolute position calculated by the first position calculator is to be used based on a determination result of the determiner.

The optical encoder includes a scale, a head moves relative to the scale, and a calculating unit performs calculation based on the relative movement. The head includes a light source and a receiving unit having a light receiving surface. The scale includes a step portion on a scale surface. The step portion generates interference light having a contrast pattern on the light receiving surface, and generate the darkest portion with the highest contrast in the contrast pattern. The light source irradiates the step portion with light in a direction inclined with respect to a direction perpendicular to the scale surface. The calculating unit includes an origin calculating unit that identifies the darkest portion from the contrast pattern and calculates the identified darkest portion as the origin position that is a reference of the relative movement between the scale and the head.

A linear encoder has a stationary part and a moving part, and measures and encodes a relative displacement between the stationary part and the moving part along a linear extent of displacement. The encoder comprises multiple machine sensible elements arranged on one of the parts in a predetermined, pattern; and multiple evenly placed sensors arranged along the other part along the entire linear extent, thereby to measure and encode the displacement. The encoder may be an absolute encoder and may be based on magnetic or optical or any other kind of sensing.

An optical encoder is provided. The encoder includes an optical disc mounted on a shaft, the optical disc containing pit and land markings; an optical pickup unit for an optical disc that receives light from the optical disc and supplies as an output an electrical signal representative of the received light, comprising: a reading head objective lens, and dynamic steering actuators that control the focus and tracking of the reading head objective lens; a processor that receives as an input the electrical signal from the optical pickup unit and reports motion of the substrate based on the received at least one electrical signal.

A method is provided for operating an optical sensor unit comprising markings arranged on a piston rod of a cylinder of an industrial truck. The method, comprises the steps of: transmitting optical radiation onto markings arranged on the piston rod receiving optical radiation reflected by the markings arranged on the piston rod detecting an oscillating voltage signal by the receiver from the optical radiation reflected by the markings on the piston rod; converting the voltage signal into a binary digital signal; setting a control current applied to the transmitter as a control variable, specifying a target voltage amplitude from the detected oscillating voltage signal as a reference variable, determining an average actual voltage amplitude over a plurality of voltage fluctuations produced by traversal of a plurality of markings from the respective actual voltage amplitudes of the voltage signals, determining a control deviation value between a target voltage amplitude and an average associated with the actual voltage amplitudes of the voltage signals, and correcting the average associated with the actual voltage amplitudes of the voltage signals by changing the control current in dependence of the control deviation value.

An optical encoder 10 comprising: a light source 11; a splitter 12 splits a light from the light source 11, a light receiving unit 16; a scale 13 is arranged on a light path and movable in a measurement direction, a grating being arranged on a main surface of the scale; and an offset diffraction grating 14 includes a plurality of diffraction gratings arranged in the optical path from the splitter 12 to the light receiving unit 16, the plurality of diffraction gratings diffracting the split lights with different phases, wherein, the plurality of diffraction gratings 13 in the offset diffraction grating 14 are arranged in one plane parallel to the main surface of the scale and are offset each other in an offset direction orthogonal to the measurement direction, the light receiving unit 16 includes a plurality of light-receiving elements 16-11 to 16-23 arranged in the offset direction.

A method for compensating for accuracy errors of a hexapod is disclosed, said hexapod comprising a base, an actuation assembly having six linear translation actuators, a control unit, and a movable carriage comprising a platform connected to the base by means of the actuation assembly. The method includes a measurement step for determining geometry and positioning errors on the hexapod, the measurement step including sub-steps for determining positioning errors of the pivot centers on the carriage and on the base, for determining length errors of the actuators and for measuring positioning errors of the actuators along the path thereof, the compensation method also including a step for calculating, from measurements taken, error compensation values and a step for applying said error compensation values to the control unit of the hexapod, during subsequent use of said hexapod.

In one example, an encoder strip mounting system includes an encoder strip having a first end, a second end opposite the first end, and an intermediate part between the first end and the second end, and a retainer to prevent the intermediate part of the encoder strip from shifting lengthwise with respect to an anchor point for the retainer located within a span of the intermediate part of the encoder strip.