An optical position measuring arrangement for the generation of n>1 phase-shifted incremental signals characterizing relative positions of two objects which are movable with respect to each other along a measuring direction. The optical position measuring arrangement includes a
light source that emits bundles of beams, a measurement
grating, a plurality of optional gratings and a scanning unit. The scanning unit includes a scanning
grating arranged in a
scanning plane, wherein the scanning
grating includes a plurality of blocks arranged periodically along the measuring direction with a scanning grating periodicity TPAG equaling a
fringe pattern periodicity TPS, and each block includes n grating sections (n=1, 2, 3, . . . ) of a width bx=TPAG / n, exclusively arranged along the measuring direction, and each of the n grating sections has a
periodic grating structure, which causes a deflection of the bundles of beams propagated through each of the n grating sections in several spatial directions, in which resulting spatial directions of the n grating sections in a block differ. The scanning unit further includes a plurality of
detector elements arranged downstream of the scanning grating, wherein the
detector elements are arranged in the spatial directions in the
detector plane, and wherein the detector plane is located in an area in which the bundles of beams coming from the scanning grating are completely spatially separated. The
fringe pattern having a periodicity TPS is formed in the
scanning plane by an interaction of the bundles of beams emitted by the
light source with the measurement grating and the further optional gratings.