Description Of The 86038B - Agilent Technologies 86038B User Manual

Description of the 86038B

Agilent 86038B Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer, Second Edition
The Agilent 86038B employs the modulation phase shift (MPS)
method for all of its measurements. A block diagram of the
system is shown in Figure
amplitude modulated by passing the light through a balanced
lithium niobate Mach-Zehnder modulator that is driven by an
RF source. The signal passes through the test device to an
optical receiver for recovery of the modulation envelope. The
performance network analyzer (PNA-L) measures the amplitude
and phase of the envelope. For measurements of polarization
dependence, the polarization is set by a polarization controller
that directly follows the modulator. Thus the optical stimulus to
the DUT can be varied in both wavelength and state of
polarization (SOP). From the resulting information, the various
measurement attributes are evaluated.
The available wavelength range can be chosen, based on the
wavelength option of the 81600B tunable laser. The modular
laser can easily be exchanged to make measurements in a
different wavelength region. But even without changing the
laser module, the 81600B can provide up to a 200 nm wide
wavelength range.
An additional internal optical receiver also allows the amplitude
and phase of the signal into the DUT to be monitored, thus
providing optimized separation of the DUT properties from any
other changes to the optical signal.
When equipped with Option #400, the 83427C includes
additional couplers to tap the optical signal to and from the
DUT. The tapped signal is routed to two high performance
power sensor modules mounted in the 8164B. The low
polarization sensitivity of these sensors enhances the accuracy
of the loss and PDL measurements.
11. Light from the tunable laser is
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