Abstract

Hollow corner-cube retroreflectors (HCCRs) are an essential reflection component of next-generation lunar laser-ranging technology. The verticality among the three reflectors, known as the right-angle error, is a critical parameter that affects the emission performance, and thus, should be correctly measured and calibrated. However, conventional methods measure the three right-angle errors separately, which can induce error superposition during the measurement process. A one-time measurement method was developed for the three right-angle errors of the HCCR using a single autocollimator (AC). The method establishes a mathematical relationship between the right-angle error of the HCCR and the angle offset of the reflected beam, and it considers the observation coordinates of the AC simultaneously to perform the coordinate transformation of the relationship parameters. The corresponding measurement equation was derived to extract the three-plane right-angle error of the HCCR using the measured readings of a single AC. In addition, a HCCR was designed to freely adjust the angle of the two reflective surfaces and used to simulate the different states of the three right-angle errors in practice. The measurement results show that the root-mean-square error of the proposed method in all right-angle error states is smaller than ${{16}^{{\prime \prime}}}$.

© 2024 Optica Publishing Group

Roll angle autocollimator measurement method based on a cylindrical cube-corner reflector with a high resolution and large range

Renpu Li, Linyi Xie, Yan Zhen, Han Xiao, Wei Wang, Junqi Guo, Igor Konyakhin, Mikhail Nikitin, and Xiaolong Yu
Opt. Express 30(5) 7147-7161 (2022)

Design of a multipass optical cell based on the use of shifted corner cubes and right-angle prisms

Artyom L. Vitushkin and Leonid F. Vitushkin
Appl. Opt. 37(1) 162-165 (1998)

Autocollimation angle-measurement method with a large range based on spot deformation

Renpu Li, Han Xiao, Linyi Xie, Tao Feng, Yong Ma, Junqi Guo, Mu Zhou, Mikhail Nikitin, and Igor Konyakhin
Opt. Express 30(21) 38727-38744 (2022)

Three-axis angle measurement method based on an optical wedge

Jinkai Wang, Yangyang Bai, Wenhe Zhao, Ningning Xie, and Lizhong Zhang
Appl. Opt. 63(4) 1125-1134 (2024)

Method to uniformly diverge a reflected beam with a plano–concave lens located in front of a cube-corner retroreflector

Chang’an Liu, Zumin Qi, Xiangqian Luo, Yi Zhang, Zehua Wang, Xiaofeng Zhou, Jianhui Zhu, Chao Long, and Yanyong Zi
Appl. Opt. 56(5) 1333-1338 (2017)