temporally in terms of its intensity in a desired manner the laser beam bundle 220 subsequently passes through a collimation optical unit 226 in the form of an objective 228 which is illustrated in the form of an individual lens in a simplified manner in fig5 in this exemplary embodiment the objective 228 is optionally situated on an adjusting assembly 232 which in principle makes it possible to change the position of the objective in all three spatial directions for example for alignment purposes alternatively however the collimation optical unit 226 can also already be part of the laser diode 218 or fixedly connected thereto after passing through the objective 228 this results in a for example amplitude modulated signal of the measurement radiation 213 in the form of an almost parallel light bundle 237 which propagates along an optical axis 238 of the photon source 212 in addition a preferably switchable beam deflector 240 can also be situated in the photon source 212 and allows the measurement radiation 213 to be deflected wholly or partly whilst bypassing the target object 215 directly that is to say device internally onto the photon detector 214 in this way it is possible to generate a device internal reference path 242 which allows calibration or adjustment of the distance measuring device if a distance measurement is carried out by means of the distance measuring device 210 the measurement radiation 213 leaves the housing 211 of the distance measuring device through an optical window 244 in the end wall 245 of the measuring device 210 the opening of the optical window 244 can be protected for example by a shutter 246 for the purpose of actual measurement the distance measuring device 210 is then.