The invention relates to a device with a detector element for receiving a light beam reflecting on an object, wherein means for detecting the light beam are provided in the detector element. The invention also relates to a method for distance measurement using said receiver device. A device for determining the distance between a vehicle and an obstacle or a vehicle driving ahead is already known as per DE 197 13 826 A1, wherein a pulsed laser beam serving as send signal scans line-by-line a two-dimensional area using a self-rotating polygonal mirror, wherein said polygonal mirror has a plurality of mirror surfaces that are bent at different angles. The pulse beam reflecting on the object is focused on a detector element by optical lenses. Said device known in prior art requires a polygonal mirror that is complicated to produce and a complicated evaluation electronics due to the fact that, inter alia, the scanning impulses for the control of the laser diode have to be synchronized with the angular position of the polygonal mirror. The invention provides for a self-rotating polygonal mirror with a plurality of mirror surfaces that are bent at a given angle against the rotational axis of said polygonal mirror as receiver device so that the reflecting light beam is deflected in said mirror surfaces by means of an optics system and focused on the detector element.