An encoder head includes one or more components arranged to: i) direct a first incident beam to the diffractive encoder scale at a first incident angle with respect to the encoder scale; ii) receive a first return beam from the encoder scale at a first return angle, the first return angle being different from the first incident angle; iii) redirect the first return beam to the encoder scale as a second incident beam at a second incident angle; and iv) receive a second return beam back from the encoder scale at a second return angle, the second return angle being different from the second incident angle, in which a difference between the first incident angle and second incident angle is less than a difference between the first incident angle and the first return angle and less than a difference between the second incident angle and the second return angle.