In order to describe the relationship between the incident angle of cube corner retro-reflector (CCR) and the measurement accuracy of CCR using in laser tracker system

the working principle and reflective characteristic of CCR are analyzed. A novel approach has been proposed to determine the effective reflection area of CCR with an arbitrary beam incidence angle. The formula of ray cross section of CCR with incident angle varying is derived according to the effective reflective area. Accordingly

the relationship between CCR measuring accuracy and incident beam angle is established. The experimental results have demonstrated that the CCR measuring accuracy reduces as the incident angle increases

the CCR measuring error is largest when the maximal incident angle is reached. The measuring error of CCR at maximal incident angle ±35.26° is 0.050mm

but the measuring accuracy of a CCR is better than 0.010mm when the incident angle is within ±20°

and the measuring accuracy and the stability is best only when the incident angle within ±15°. The results have shown that CCR can maintain the manufacturer specifications of LTS only when the incident angle is within ±20°

which provides a very useful guidance for design and application for CCR.