Optical position transducer

An optical transducer is provided for measuring the position of an object. The transducer comprises a fixed polariser (22), a rotatable polariser (23), a drive unit (30) for rotating the rotatable polariser (23) in proportion to the linear or angular displacement in the position of the object (31); a light source, a light guide (24) for directing a beam of light of known intensity through the polarisers (22, 23) and a light guide (25) to pass the light to a detector for measuring its intensity, whereby the modulation in light intensity effected by the rotatable polariser (23) is indicative of the change in position of the object (31). If the light source is a laser producing a coherent beam, then the fixed polariser (22) can be omitted. In this way, the transducer converts linear or angular position into modulation of the intensity of a light beam by purely optical means.