Table of Contents
Advertisement
Calibrating Measurements
The wavelength of light changes depending on the
material that the light is passing through. To display
meaningful wavelength measurements, the
Agilent 86121 performs two steps, measuring the wave-
length in air and converting the wavelength to show val-
ues in a vacuum.
For example, a laser line with a wavelength of
1550.000 nm in a vacuum would have a wavelength in
standard air of 1549.577 nm.
Because all measurements made inside the WDM chan-
nel analyzer are performed in air, the density of air, due
to elevation, affects the wavelength results. You must
calibrate the Agilent 86121 by entering the elevation.
Elevations from 0 to 5000 meters can be entered. The
elevation correction is immediately applied to the cur-
rent measurement even if the instrument is stopped.
Annotation on the display shows the current calibration
elevation in meters.
To enter the elevation
1 Press the Setup key.
2 Press the MORE softkey.
3 Press the CAL softkey.
4 Press ELEV.
5 Use the
and
meters. Entries jump in 500 meter steps from 0 m to
5000 m.
In order for the WDM channel analyzer to meet its pub-
lished specifications, the elevation value selected with
the softkeys must be within 250 meters of the actual el-
evation.
Calibrating Measurements 3-25
softkeys to enter the elevation in
Advertisement
Table of Contents
