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THORLABS IPM5300 Operation Manual
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THORLABS IPM5300 Operation Manual

THORLABS IPM5300 Operation Manual

Fast inline polarimeter
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Operation Manual
Thorlabs Instrumentation
Fast Inline Polarimeter
IPM5300
2008

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Summary of Contents for THORLABS IPM5300

  • Page 1 Operation Manual Thorlabs Instrumentation Fast Inline Polarimeter IPM5300 2008...
  • Page 2 Version: 2.13 Date: 10.03.2008 © Copyright 2008, Thorlabs...
  • Page 3 Page General description 1.1 Safety 1.2 Features 1.2.1 Ordering Codes 1.3 Technical Data IPM5300 1.4 Operating Elements at the Front of the Card 1.5 The Auxiliary Connector 1.6 Installing and removing Cards Getting Started 2.1 Preconditions 2.2 The Graphics User Interface (GUI) 2.2.1...
  • Page 4 3.11.6 Communication Settings 3.11.7 The Help Menu Service and Maintenance 4.1 Troubleshooting 4.2 Service Listings 5.1 Warranty 5.2 Thorlabs “End of Life” policy (WEEE) 5.2.1 Waste treatment on your own responsibility 5.2.2 Ecological background 5.3 List of Acronyms 5.4 List of Figures 5.5 List of possible Error / Status Messages...
  • Page 5 We and our international partners are looking forward to hearing from you. Thorlabs This part of the instruction manual contains every specific information on how to handle and use a IPM5300 card. A general description is followed by explanations of how to operate the unit remotely. Attention This manual contains “WARNINGS”...
  • Page 7 EN 50 082-1. The TXP must not be operated in explosion endangered environments. IPM5300 / page...
  • Page 8 1.2 Features 1.2 Features • LabVIEW®- and LabWindows/CVI®-driver ® For the TXP-series cards Thorlabs supplies drivers for LabVIEW - LabWin- ® dows/CVI , MSVC and Borland-C. Please refer to our homepage for the latest driver updates. http://www.thorlabs.com 1.2.1 Ordering Codes...
  • Page 9 45 dB, -30 … +15 dBm Parameter Resolution 0.01% SOP angles 0.01° 0.0001 Analog monitor output -2.5 V … + 2.5 V At power 0 ±3 dBm, averaging time >1ms Accuracies referring to the IPM5300 internal reference plane IPM5300 / page...
  • Page 10 ‘Car d selected’ LED for ‘Car d On’ LED for ‘Error Occurred’ Optical Input FC / APC Auxil i a ry In/Out Optical Output FC / APC Ejector Handle Figure 1 Operating elements on front panel / page 4 IPM5300...
  • Page 11 0V = -5 dBm DGND Digital ground for Trigger Analog In 0 … +2.5V Analog Control signal (not used here) -2.5 … +2.5V Normalized Stokes Vector S (-1 … +1) -2.5 … +2.5V Normalized Stokes Vector S (-1 … +1) IPM5300 / page...
  • Page 12 1.6 Installing and removing Cards 1.6 Installing and removing Cards The Thorlabs TXP series mainframes and cards are ‘Hot-Swappable’, that means you do not have to switch off the mainframe while exchanging cards: • Loosen the four mounting screws on top and below the ejector handle (see Figure 1) •...
  • Page 13 ‘Custom Installation’. Then mark the components for the IPM modules and proceed with the installation. 3. Insert the IPM5300 card in your TXP mainframe (see 1.6 Installing and removing Cards). 4. Switch on the TXP if not yet done The TXP system is now ready for operation and you can start the card specific graphics user interface (GUI).
  • Page 14 Now select the module you want to control (here shown in slot [4]) and launch the IPM specific operating program by clicking the button ‘Use card with standard module’. Now the card specific operating software starts (TXP_Polarization_Tools.exe): / page 8 IPM5300...
  • Page 15 2.2 The Graphics User Interface (GUI) Figure 4 The IPM5300 GUI Surface Alternatively: 2) Start TXP_Polarization_Tools.exe directly ( e.g. by double clicking the corresponding symbol). In this case you must connect to the desired card in the corresponding mainframe through the ‘Connection’ menu. Clicking ‘Connect’ opens the selection window for the mainframe IP-address (see Figure 5).
  • Page 16 2.2 The Graphics User Interface (GUI) Figure 5 Enter the IP-Address Figure 6 Select Portnumber and Timeout / page 10 IPM5300...
  • Page 17 The card selection window Hitting ‘OK’ starts the IPM Graphics User Interface (see Figure 4 The IPM5300 GUI Surface). 2.2.2 Operate the IPM for the first time Now connect a laser source with a patchcord to the optical input of the IPM. The patchcord must have FC/APC connectors.
  • Page 18 3 Operating the IPM5300 3.1 Principal Modes of Operation The following operating modes are possible with the IPM5300: • Single Mode : The inline polarimeter measures one state of polarization after the other. There is no defined time scale. If one measurement has finished and the data are transferred to the PC the next measurement starts.
  • Page 19 You can also use the right mouse button to zoom into and out of the sphere by moving the mouse. Polarization states on the front side of the sphere are shown in red, on the rear side in blue. IPM5300 / page...
  • Page 20 Another representation of the polarization status is shown as polarization ellipse, with numerical values for the Ellipticity and Azimuth angle. ‘R’ or ‘L’ are shown on the display right- left-handed polarization. Figure 11 The Polarization Ellipse / page 14 IPM5300...
  • Page 21 Poincaré sphere rotates. • ‘Perspective’ : Changes between perspective and normal view of the sphere. (In perspective view e.g. circles on the rear side of the sphere are shown smaller than on the fore-side. IPM5300 / page...
  • Page 22 The info-field ‘ Buffer Status ’ gives information about the status of the data buffer. (The data buffer is quite large (>100 k values), so the normal status should be ‘OK’) 'Clear Trace’ deletes all stored data points in the buffer. / page 16 IPM5300...
  • Page 23 Note that an azimuth or ellipticity difference of 1 deg corresponds to the double value expressed in degree on the Poincaré sphere. The ‘max.’ dSOP indicator is useful for drift or polarization noise measurements and can be reset to the actual dSOP value by ‘Reset dSOP’ . IPM5300 / page...
  • Page 24 (about one per µs) are averaged during this time interval. The spacing of two successive measurement points is at least this average time plus time for data transmission and display. Averaging is done with a time constant entered in the field ‘Average Time’ / page 18 IPM5300...
  • Page 25 'Gain Low' (more than +5dBm), whereas 'Gain High' is advised for weaker signals. If the measurement time is no problem, start a first measurement with 'Gain High'. Switch to 'Gain Low' if you get an error message (Optical power too high) during this first run. IPM5300 / page...
  • Page 26 The chart mode shows the data registered in the array mode in rectangular format: measurement parameter(s) vs. time. In the upper part of the screen the IPM settings are shown and can also be manipulated here. / page 20 IPM5300...
  • Page 27 'Gain Low' (more than +5dBm), whereas 'Gain High' is advised for weaker signals. If the measurement time is no problem, start a first measurement with 'Gain High'. Switch to 'Gain Low' if you get an error message 'Optical Power too high' during this first run. IPM5300 / page...
  • Page 28 'Trigger active' appears in the status field. If you have entered pre-trigger samples, this activation of the trigger may take some time (until the unit has collected at least this number of pre-trigger samples). / page 22 IPM5300...
  • Page 29 5. s The analog output range is -2.5 V … +2.5 V with an update rate of maximally 100 kS/s (depends on the average time selected). NOTE The output values are only available in the single measurement mode! IPM5300 / page...
  • Page 30 Any Status message or warning or occurring error is displayed in the Device Status field. E.g. if the measurement runs in the array mode, the status field shows ‘macro command running’. See 5.5 List of possible Error / Status Messages. / page 24 IPM5300...
  • Page 31 ‘Reset’. This is useful for SOP drift or noise measurement. ‘Reset’ sets all to 0, refresh includes the just actual measured values. ‘Autorefresh’ refreshes the values about once a second. IPM5300 / page...
  • Page 32 IPM by means of a fiber polarization controller (mickey ears) Enter the wavelength in the IPM wavelength field as precise as possible Click on 'Start IPM User Adjust' in the 'User' drop down menu Figure 14 Start the User Calibration Click ‘Start’ / page 26 IPM5300...
  • Page 33 Switch off your laser source or darken the IPM input (please keep in mind that a standard FC/APC or FC/PC cap is not totally intransparent to infra-red radiation! Then click 'Next'. Figure 16 Step 2 of the User Calibration IPM5300 / page...
  • Page 34 After clicking 'Start' you have about 15 seconds in which you should change the input polarization as much as possible. A running bar-graph shows the progress: After 15 seconds you can see whether or not the calibration was successful / page 28 IPM5300...
  • Page 35 3.10 The User Calibration Figure 18 The Calibration Results 'Next' and 'Finish' finishes the calibration procedure. IPM5300 / page...
  • Page 36 Connect a laser source with an output power of 4dBm to the IPM and click 'Start IPM User Adjust'. The following procedure is self-explaining but you can see the details in 3.10, “The User Calibration”. 3.11.4 Save and Load a Trace / page 30 IPM5300...
  • Page 37 ASCII text-file. e.g.: -0.990216,0.093213,0.103845,8.603065,99.013025 -0.990204,0.093419,0.103770,8.603271,99.015649 -0.990221,0.093379,0.103644,8.603180,99.011949 -0.990225,0.093395,0.103597,8.603264,99.011583 -0.990237,0.093346,0.103521,8.603180,99.011232 It stores the three s-parameters, the power in dBm and the DOP in %. 3.11.5 Card Info Menu Item ‘Card Info’ shows detailed information about your IPM card: IPM5300 / page...
  • Page 38 Depending on the bandwidth and reliability of your connection between TXP and PC, you can select update rates from 10 seconds down to 10 ms. This means, that all actual data you see on the GUI are updated with this time constant. / page 32 IPM5300...
  • Page 39 3.11 Menu Items 3.11.7 The Help Menu With the item ‘Contents’ or the Function key ‘F1’ you can open the IPM help-file. ‘About’ shows general information about your IPM GUI software: IPM5300 / page...
  • Page 41 In normal operation the IPM5300 card does not need any Service. If highest precision of the measurements is vital for you, you should have recalibrated the IPM5300 every two years. You can see the due date of calibration in the card info- menu of the card driver (refer to 3.11.5 Card Info).
  • Page 42 5.1 Warranty 5 Listings 5.1 Warranty Thorlabs warrants material and production of the IPM5300 for a period of 24 months starting with the date of shipment. During this warranty period Thorlabs will see to defaults by repair or by exchange if these are entitled to warranty.
  • Page 43 • As the WEEE directive applies to self contained operational electrical and electronic products, this “end of life” take back service does not refer to other Thorlabs products, such as pure OEM products, that means assemblies to be built into a unit by the user •...
  • Page 44 5.2.1 Waste treatment on your own responsibility If you do not return an “end of life” unit to Thorlabs, you must hand it to a company specialized in waste recovery. Do not dispose of the unit in a litter bin or at a public waste disposal site.
  • Page 45 The following acronyms and abbreviations are used in this manual: ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange Carriage Return Digital to Analog Converter Deterministic Polarization Controller Graphical User Interface Inline PolariMeter Light Emitting Diode Personal Computer Soft Ware IPM5300 / page...
  • Page 46 Operating elements on front panel Figure 2 The Auxiliary Connector (D-SUB 9, f) Figure 3 The TXP Explorer Window Figure 4 The IPM5300 GUI Surface Figure 5 Enter the IP-Address Figure 6 Select Portnumber and Timeout Figure 7 The card selection window Figure 8 The Poincaré...
  • Page 47 Accuracy may be degraded. Temperature inside the polarimeter outside the “POLA temperature too high” specified range. Accuracy may be degraded. The measurement waits for your trigger signal to “Trigger activated” start the measurement Array measurement in progress “Macro command running” IPM5300 / page...
  • Page 48 5.6 Addresses 5.6 Addresses For technical support or sales inquiries, please visit us at www.thorlabs.com/contact for our most up-to- date contact information. USA, Canada, and South America UK and Ireland Thorlabs, Inc. Thorlabs Ltd. sales@thorlabs.com sales.uk@thorlabs.com techsupport@thorlabs.com techsupport.uk@thorlabs.com Europe Scandinavia...