Abstract: The aim of the invention is to determine the actual position and/or actual orientation of a measuring appliance (4b). To this end, at least two reference points (2b?) lying in a spatial segment (5?) scanned by a laser beam are detected and measured in terms of the distance thereinbetween and the inclination angle thereof. The actual position of the measuring appliance (4b) can be deduced from the known positions of said reference points (2b?) arranged in a detectable manner and the associated distances and inclination angle thereof. The detection, monitoring and measuring of the reference points is carried out by the measuring appliance (4b) in an automated manner, the measuring appliance (4b) and specifically embodied elements associated with the reference points (2b?) forming a local positioning and/or orientation measuring system.

Abstract: A laser source is used in a geodesic device to improve the emission of laser light, in which the laser diodes emitting multimodal radiation are influenced by a mode-selective component such that the laser radiation emitted by the laser source has monomodal character. An edge emitter or a vertical semiconductor emitter with an external cavity, is hence used, in which a mode selective component is arranged, for example, a monomode fibre or resonator mirror, which has the effect of a mode-selective resonator construction. Components with negative dispersion can be used for pulse compression to compensate for the greater pulse duration generated by the lengthened cavity.

Abstract: In order to improve target illumination, a light source (2) of an emitter, which has a laser diode (3) configured as an edge emitter with a wavelength of 1,550 nm, has beam forming optics (4) mounted downstream in relation thereto, which comprise a cylindrical lens (7) and a first deflection element (8) with three fields having different diffraction structures. Said deflection element are located next to one another and crosswise in relation to the first fields and which also have different diffraction structures. Said deflection element directs the partial beams to the aperture of a collimator (1) in such a way that the partial beams substantially fill said aperture. The first deflection element (8) and a mount (6) for the cylindrical lens (7) are integral and, alike the second deflection element (10), are made of plastic. Both parts are glued to opposite sides of the frontal areas of a block (5) made of glass.

Abstract: In order to improve target illumination a light emitter comprises several partial light sources (3a, 3b, 3c, 3d), the partial beams (5a, 5b, 5c, 5d) of which are collected by means of a beam collector optic (2) and directed to the aperture of a collimator (1). The beam collector optic (2) comprises two half-mirrored sheets (12a, 12b), which each direct two similarly polarized partial beams (5a, b; 5c, d) side by side onto a polarization cube (13), where the pairs of partial beams which are polarized perpendicular and orthogonal to each other are overlaid.

Abstract: To measure the distance to targets, local maxima exceeding a threshold (&egr;) and being associated with a correlation function (f) are determined, the reference values of which are obtained from scalar products of a received signal (e), produced by reflections of an optical pulse by the targets, and number of comparison functions, copies of a reference function (r) which are shifted as a function of time, and the transit times of the reflections are derived from the time-related shifts of the corresponding comparison functions. By interpolation with respect to the time-related shifts or optimization thereof, for example by adjusting them so that the orthogonal distance of the received signal (e) from the vector space which is spanned by the corresponding comparison functions is a minimum, the transit times can be determined even more accurately.

Abstract: A leveling instrument has an image-forming objective, a picture-taking spatial resolution optoelectronic detector, and electronics and a computing unit for driving the detector and evaluating the detector signals. The image-forming objective is subdivided into several zones of field depth designed each as a different aperture plate. Corresponding partial zone of the detector are associated to the aperture plate. The partial zones of the detector may also be designed as individual spatial resolution detectors. Since all level indicators, whatever their distance from the levelling instrument, may be sensed in one of the zones of field depth designed as aperture plates and reproduced by said aperture plate, the image-forming objective need not be manually or automatically refocused nor aligned with respect to the target.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for electro-optical distance measurement. A series of pulses provided by a laser are received as echoes by a receiver. The pulses are each produced within respective intervals having a common predetermined duration. Each pulse is time-shifted relative to the beginning of its corresponding interval. A pulse pattern comprising echo signals for each of a series of pulses is used to determine the distance to an object producing the echoes.

Abstract: The description relates to the measurement of the inclination of boundary areas in an optical system and a device for implementing the process. Starting with an auto-collimation process which determines the inclination of this boundary area in relation to a reference axis from the deviation of a light beam collimated onto the boundary area to be investigated and reflected on a position-sensitive photodetection system, a twin-beam interferometer process with downstream evaluation electronics is provided which permits the separation of the interferogram, intensity-modulated according to the invention, of the boundary area to be investigated from the unmodulated disturbance reflections of those not to be investigated as far as the interferogram intensities in the photon-noise range and thus offers a resolution in the deviation of the center of gravity of the interferogram of the order of 10 nm.

Abstract: A wave front sensor having a focusing optical system (1), a perforated diaphragm (2) with a plurality of perforations (21) situated simultaneously in the beam path (3), in an encoded arrangement, in particular according to and a cyclic Hadamard code, a device (22) for advancing the perforated diaphragm (2), so that a multiplicity of different encoded arrangements of perforations (21) are situated successively in the beam path (3).

Abstract: Process and apparatus for testing optical components (12) or systems which are contained in an apparatus consisting of a focusing optical system (1) and a space-resolving light detector (2) close to the focal plane thereof, it being provided that a source (3), containing a collimator (32), for a narrowly delimited precisely parallel light beam with a plane wavefront is moved rectilinearly in a plane parallel to the wavefront, at a plurality of positions of the source (3) the signal of the light detector (2) is determined, tilting movements of the source (3) perpendicular to the line direction are detected by an apparatus with a second collimator (52) and space-sensitive detector (51), and the aperture of the optical system (1) is scanned twice with line directions rotated relative to one another through approximately 90.degree., and in addition an individual line coming close to the axis of rotation is scanned in a position rotated through approximately 45.degree..

Abstract: The measuring device is used for determining a relative position between a first item and a second item or the image thereof. The items are displaceable or rotatable relative to one another. The first item has a code carrier, which is arranged along a path. The code carrier is provided with a code pattern at right angles to the path. The second item has a code reader oriented on the code carrier path. A computer is connected downstream of the code reader and has means for quantifying the signal supplied by the code reader and for comparing with a stored code image of the code carrier, as well as for calculating the relative position from the comparison result. This measure permits automatic reading of the position, accompanied by a very high measuring accuracy. The measured result can be digitally displayed and, if required, can be directly stored on a data carrier and/or can be further processed in a computer.