High Sensitivity and Full-Circle Optical Rotary Sensor for Non-Cooperatively Tracing Wrist Tremor With Nanoradian Resolution

In this article, a novel optical rotary sensor based on laser self-mixing interferometry is developed for the full-circle rotation measurement. The proposed sensor is convenient to use for it does not need any contact with the target or a cooperative mirror. A prototype is fabricated and tested. The measured results demonstrate good performance compared with other optical rotary sensors, in terms of the 0.1
μ
rad resolution, the 2.33 × 10
⁻⁴
linearity, and 2
μ
rad stability over 1 h. Additionally, the repeatability error is below 14.66 mrad under nine-group full-circle tests, which exhibits the potential to be instrumentalized reliably. Error analysis and limitation discussion have been also carried out. Although the accuracy needs further improvement compared with the best rotary sensor, this method has its unique advantages of high resolution, non-cooperative target sensing, and electromagnetic immunity. Hence, the proposed optical rotary sensor provides a promising alternative in precise rotation measurement, tremor tracing, and nanomotion monitoring.