Abstract
This paper describes a new automatic calibration system for polygon mirrors. This system consists of the following four subsystems: (a) a precise rotary mechanism, (b) a rotary magnetic scale for angular standard, (c) a special photo-electric autocollimator which enables a dynamic measurement and (d) a mini-computer system which controls the compiling and handling of data. The basic principle of the system depends on the selfchecking-method, so that both the polygon mirror and the standard rotary scale are calibrated simultaneously. The system adopts a time-conversionmethod to detect slight angular difference with high resolution. By way of an example, a 12-sidedpolygon has been calibrated on the system. The results obtained are as follows: (1) The calibration can be done automatically in a short time without skill, excepting the manual operation of setting a polygon relatively for the magnetic scale. (2) 959% confidence interval of instrumental error calibrated on the system is within ±0.07 seconds of arc.
