Photonic Application Suite: Lambda Scan Software for Tunable Laser Systems

New and Familiar Application Software

The Keysight Photonic Application Suite is a collection of advanced and basic software tools for automating optical measurements and analysis, especially for determining wavelength and polarization dependence of fiberoptic network components. The PAS Version 3 software adds support for the new N77-C generation of instruments, adopts a new 64-bit implementation and introduces the new Lambda Scan measurement package for enhanced performance and more flexible features. Automation in the same way as with predecessor N7700A PAS software makes updating existing installations easy and fast.

Software packages

• Main Package: analyze results in a powerful viewer, save results in viewable format, installs Photonic Applications Package Manager.

• LS Engine: extends and merges IL/PDL, FSIL and PMD functionality for lambda scans without or with polarization control using the N7786C, N7786B, or N7788C. LS supports two-way sweeps, extended dynamic detection range, and switching of multiple lasers for wider wavelength range and use of source/measure units for photocurrent detection, with the M9601A/14A/15A PXI and B2900-series SMU. power meters. Now with more flexible step setting resolution! Both polarization-resolved and fixed-polarization with the N7786C.

• IL Engine: measure insertion loss vs. wavelength with a tunable laser and power meters (no license required)

• Fast Spectral Loss Engine (FSIL): calibrate and adjust devices at repetition rates up to 10x faster than the IL engine using N774x power meters

• IL/PDL Engine: measure IL and PDL vs. wavelength using the N7786B with the advanced single-sweep Mueller method, also responsivity for integrated detector devices

• N7700 PAS TAP Plugin: easily automate LS and IL/PDL engines in Pathwave Test Automation (TAP) version 8.8.

• Polarization Navigator: use and control N778xB instruments (no license required)

• Drivers, firmware, documents, N77xx Viewer: keep equipment and guides up to date

License products

• N7700100C Polarization Lambda Scan (PLS) for single-sweep multichannel measurement of polarization-dependent insertion loss and responsivity parameters using the LS engine with N7786C or N7786B or IL/PDL engine with N7786B and FLS measurements without additional N7700102C license

• N7700101C DWDM Channel Analysis (DWDM) for determining specified DWDM passband parameters from the spectral measurements

• N7700102C Fast Lambda Scan (FLS) for multichannel measurement of spectral insertion loss or responsivity using the FSIL or LS engine

• N7700103C PMD for single-sweep measurement of differential group delay, polarization mode dispersion, PDL and IL over the wavelength range of one or more tunable lasers

Polarization Lambda Scan

The N7700100C PLS license is used for measurements of the device response to an input optical signal in dependence on wavelength and polarization. The response can be the optical insertion loss or attenuation when the device has optical output or responsivity when the device has integrated photodiodes and has electrical photocurrent output. Wavelength-dependent measurements at fixed polarization or without a polarization controller are also supported.

PLS supports two software engines for polarization-dependent measurements, either the LS engine when used with the N7786C or predecessor N7786B polarization synthesizer or the version 3 upgrade for the IL/PDL engine when used with the N7786B. The LS engine has added support for the multichannel M9614A and M9615A as well as the M9601A PXI SMU, and all N774-C power meters as well as optical power heads that are especially useful for open beam detection. For highest sensitivity, the N7747A and N7748A optical power meters are now also supported.

The PLS measurement implements Keysight’s advanced single-sweep Mueller Matrix method to measure polarization dependence by rapidly and repeatably switching the polarization to the device under test while the wavelength is scanned at a constant rate. This method obtains the data used to calculate a Mueller Matrix sample in a very short time, like 300 µs, so the measurement is very stable against fiber vibrations and temperature drift. The device under test can have one or multiple output ports that are all measured in parallel at the same time. Similarly, the optical signal can be split or switched to the input of multiple devices for higher throughput. New with LS 3.4 version: advanced normalization gives PDL reference data longer stability with SOP Drift Compensation.