Long-Term Measurements
Example long-term measurement.
The capability of performing quick PMD-measurements makes this measurement system well-suited for collecting long-term PMD data. The polarization NAVIGATOR software allows to continuously collect the spectral PMD data and store it on the hard disc. The data can then be visualized as pseudo-color plot (see figure).
Measurement Setup
The measurement system is controlled by a personal computer running our polarization NAVIGATOR software. The A2000 can be connected using either USB or a GPIB interface. Third-party tunable laser sources are typically controlled using a GPIB interface.
Note: The A2000 can act as a GPIB master controlling the laser source. This avoids the need for an expensive GPIB interface.
Tunable Laser Support
Adaptif recommends Agilent Tunable Laser Sources 816XX/819XX because of the
built-in wavemeter.
The measurement performance of a PMD test system strongly depends on the wavelength accuracy of the tunable laser sources. Particularly for high-resolution measurements the wavelength deviation strongly influences the measurement result. Therefore, tunable laser sources with a built-in wavemeter will produce more accurate results. For low-PMD fibers, wavelength resolution can be reduced to improve accuracy since the wavelength dependence is typically low in that regime.
Adaptif supports the follwing tunable laser sources:
- Agilent 81600, 81640, 81680, 81672
- Agilent 81980, 81940, 81949, 81980
- Agilent 81689, 81649 (only stepped mode)
- Photonetics/NetTest Tunics-BT (only stepped mode)
- Photonetics/NetTest Tunics-PR (only stepped mode)
- Photonetics/NetTest Tunics-PRI (only stepped mode)
- Photonetics/NetTest Tunics-Plus (only stepped mode)
- Other lasers on request