Precision goniometer equipped with a 22-bit absolute rotary encoder

The calibration of a compact precision goniometer equipped with a 22-bit absolute rotary encoder is presented. The goniometer is a modified Huber 410 goniometer: the diffraction angles can be coarsely generated by a stepping-motor-driven worm gear and precisely interpolated by a piezoactuator-driven tangent arm. The angular accuracy of the precision rotary stage was evaluated with an autocollimator. It was shown that the deviation from circularity of the rolling bearing utilized in the precision rotary stage restricts the angular positioning accuracy of the goniometer, and results in an angular accuracy ten times larger than the angular resolution of 0.01 arcsec. The 22-bit encoder was calibrated by an incremental rotary encoder. It became evident that the accuracy of the absolute encoder is approximately 18 bit due to systematic errors.