A new instrument is presented that measures the regression of a burning solid propellant surface. The system extracted the diffuse reflection of a laser beam from the burning surface using synchronous detection. The incoming beam had a 4000 Hz angular modulation that served as the basis of a synchronous detection scheme. A galvanometer kept the beam spot centered under a sensor as the burn surface regressed. Theoretical analysis of the system using the component response properties resulted in the design of a controller for optimal bandwidth and stability. Laboratory evaluation on diffuse surfaces revealed a system bandwidth of 200 Hz, a range of 50 mm, and a resolution of 0.03 mm. Experiments conducted on burning propellants showed that the instrument successfully tracked the position of the surface at combustion pressures up to 17 atm. Under these conditions, the combustion environment reduced the beam transmission by up to 24 dB. This lowered the system bandwidth to 20 Hz and the resolution to 0.08 mm. The instrument demonstrated the first tracking of a local area on a burning propellant with a laser device. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.