Agilent Technologies 86038B, User Manual

Page 1: ...Agilent 86038B Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer User s Guide ...

Page 2: ...r shall pay all shipping charges duties and taxes for products returned to Agilent from another country Agilent warrants that its software and firmware designated by Agilent for use with an instrument will execute its programming instructions when properly installed on that instrument Agilent does not warrant that the operation of the instrument software or firmware will be uninterrupted or error ...

Page 3: ...ou can also contact one of the following centers and ask for a test and measurement sales representative United States 1 800 829 4444 1 800 829 4433 FAX Canada 1 877 894 4414 1 905 282 6495 FAX Europe 31 20 547 2111 31 20 547 2190 FAX Japan 120 421 345 120 421 678 FAX Mexico 52 55 5081 9469 52 55 5081 9467 FAX Australia 800 629 485 800 142 134 FAX Asia Pacific 852 800 930 871 852 2 506 9233 FAX La...

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Page 5: ...ental Information 27 Setting Up the Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer 28 Agilent 86038B Front and Rear Panels 32 Performance Verification 35 Purpose 35 Things to Consider 35 Procedure 35 Navigating the Front Panel Functions 44 Defining Traces 45 Quick Setup Procedure 47 Prepare the Normalization 47 Quick Setup Process 47 Measurement Process 48 Measurement Concepts 49 Introduction 50 Understand...

Page 6: ...ers to phase wrapping 63 Maximum RF Modulation Frequency MHZ 64 Relationship of setup parameters to aliasing 65 Relationship of setup parameters to resolution 65 Relationship of setup parameters to imaging 66 Relationship of setup parameters to DGD and PDL accuracy 67 Relationship of setup parameters to ripple amplitude accuracy 68 Control of resolution and noise 70 Selecting setup conditions for ...

Page 7: ...2 Prepare for Normalization Measurement 82 Setup and Normalization Process 82 Measurement Process 82 Setup Parameters and What They Do 83 Wavelength range 83 Wavelength increment 83 Modulation frequency 83 Samples Point 83 IF Bandwidth 84 TLS Power 84 Choosing Setup Parameters for Your Device 85 Transmission Fiber All Types 85 Fiber Dispersion Compensating Module DCM 86 Fiber Bragg Grating Dispers...

Page 8: ...ecall 95 Save 95 Export 95 Print 96 Exit 96 View Menu 97 Minimize Application 97 System Menu 98 Laser Off 98 Laser On 98 Local 98 Preset 98 Preset Display Properties 99 Select TLS 99 Wavelength Meter 99 Status Log 99 Configuration 100 Real Time Port Monitor 101 Optimize Optical Modulator Bias 102 Optimize Input Polarizer 103 Toggle mainframe local lockout status 103 Zero external power meters 103 ...

Page 9: ...r Setup 112 Measure Menu 115 Begin Measurement 115 Begin Normalization 115 Clear 117 Cancel 117 Normalize 117 Close 117 Begin Length 117 Cancel Measurement 118 Display Menu 119 X Scale 119 Y Scale 120 Auto Scale 120 Marker Setup 121 Marker Search 122 Marker Functions 123 Define Trace 124 Smooth 125 Curve Fit 127 Navigating the Front Panel 129 Change View 129 Next Trace 129 Toolbar Functions 130 ...

Page 10: ...work Settings 139 Install the Remote Client 141 Program Structure events vs sequential 147 Front Panel Functions with No Remote Equivalent 149 Enumerations 150 Event Table 154 Troubleshooting 157 pdlaClient Front Panel Maps 158 Example 1 Simple Application for Controlling the PDLA 167 Starting a VB 6 0 PDLA Application 168 Install Software 168 Application Shell 168 Event Handling 170 Control Cente...

Page 11: ...er Wavelength 195 Complete Source Code 195 Example 2 Control from Excel 200 Complete Source Code 200 Example 3 Control from LabView 203 Example 4 Complete application RepeatMeas 204 PDLA Repeat Measurements 204 Triggering Measurements and Delay Between Measurements 208 Key variables 208 Processing Measured Data 209 Updating PDLA Status 210 Programming Commands 211 PDLA Remote Programming 212 PDLA ...

Page 12: ...ouble 214 NewStatus ByVal Message As String ByVal MessageType As eEventLogType 215 PresetProgress ByVal progress As enumStatus 215 Remoting ByVal Remoting As Boolean 215 SweepProgress ByVal progress As enumStatus ByVal eTestType As enumTestType ByVal eTriggerMode As enumAcquisitionMode 216 TLSSettlingProbability ByVal dTimeRemaining As Double ByVal eProbability As enumTLSSettlingProbability 216 TL...

Page 13: ... 226 AutoCancelAfterBadSweeps Property 226 Actions Commands 228 Abort Method 228 Measure Method 228 MeasureLength Method 228 Normalize Method 229 PrintScreen Method 229 Analysis CurveFit Commands 231 Calculate Method 231 Catalog Property 232 Description Method 232 ShortName Method 233 Connectivity Commands 235 Connect Method 235 Disconnect Method 235 IsConnected Method 236 TerminateSession Method ...

Page 14: ...alidIndexOfRefraction Method 244 ValidSpecifiedLength Method 245 MeasurementRange Commands 247 ValidStartStop Method 247 XStart Property 247 XStop Property 248 NormalizationRange Commands 249 ClearGDAndInsertionLossOffsets Method 249 ClearModBias Method 249 ClearPDA Method 250 ClearInputPolarizerAngle Method 250 PDAEnabled Property 250 UseCustomNormalization Property 251 ValidStartStop Method 251 ...

Page 15: ...Method 261 XValueFromPointIndex Method 262 YData Method 262 Sensitivity Commands 264 DriftCorrection Property 264 IFBandwidth Property 264 SamplesPerPoint Property 265 ValidSamplesPerPoint Method 266 Status Commands 267 ErrorFlag Property 267 EstimatedTimeToTLSSettling Property 267 InstrumentState Property 268 LastError Property 268 PresetComplete Property 269 StatusLog Method 269 TLSSettling Prop...

Page 16: ... 276 RemotingVersion Property 276 TLS Commands 278 ForceSettling Method 278 PowerSelect Property 278 MultiTlsSupport Method 279 SelectTls Method 279 TlsWvlRange Method 280 TlsWvlRangeString Method 281 SelectedTLSIdx Method 281 TlsIdn Method 282 TlsPn Method 282 TlsSn Method 283 HighPowerLimit Property 284 Troubleshooting and Upgrades 285 Introduction 286 Troubleshooting Startup Problems 287 If the...

Page 17: ... is enabled Agilent GPIB driver is disabled 291 7 Reboot the TLS 292 8 Reboot the PNA 292 9 Swap GPIB Cables 292 Troubleshooting Problems with Remote Programming 293 Troubleshooting Sweep and Normalization Problems 294 If the Modulator Bias does not complete 294 If the Wavelength Correction does not complete 295 If Mode Hops are reported in the Status Bar 295 Troubleshooting Incorrect Data 297 If ...

Page 18: ...ials do I need for proper cleaning 305 Preserving Connectors 310 Cleaning Instrument Housings 311 General Cleaning Procedure 311 How to clean connectors 311 How to clean optical head adapters 314 How to clean connector interfaces 314 How to clean bare fiber adapters 315 How to clean lenses and instruments with an optical glass plate 316 How to clean instrumentswith a fixed connector interface 317 ...

Page 19: ...ean large area lenses and mirrors 322 Other Cleaning Hints 325 Returning the Instrument for Service 326 Specifications and Regulatory Information 327 Introduction 328 Definition of Terms 329 Angled Connector Specifications 338 Specifications 339 General Characteristics 341 Conditions 342 Regulatory Information 343 Declaration of Conformity 344 Index 345 ...

Page 20: ...20 Agilent 86038B Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer Second Edition ...

Page 21: ... Getting Started Introduction 22 General Safety Considerations 24 Setting Up the Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer 28 Agilent 86038B Front and Rear Panels 32 Performance Verification 35 Navigating the Front Panel Functions 44 Defining Traces 45 Quick Setup Procedure 47 ...

Page 22: ...able wavelength range with options covering 1260 1640 nm and up to 200nm sweep range with a single tunable laser Specified accuracy and repeatability over wide wavelength range Analysis for 2nd order PMD GD ripple optical phase zero dis persion wavelength and CD slope Extremely accurate length measurement for fiber characteri zation Option available for enhanced IL and PDL accuracy Optional multip...

Page 23: ...Agilent 86038B Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer Second Edition 23 Proceed to Setting Up the Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer on page 28 for complete installation instructions ...

Page 24: ...products which have a laser output The AC symbol is used to indicate the required nature of the line module input power The ON symbols are used to mark the positions of the instrument power line switch The OFF symbols are used to mark the positions of the instrument power line switch The CE mark is a registered trademark of the European Community The caution sign denotes a hazard It calls attentio...

Page 25: ... be inserted in a socket outlet provided with a protective earth contact Any interruption of the protective conductor inside or outside of the instrument is likely to make the instrument dangerous Intentional interruption is prohibited To prevent electrical shock disconnect the instrument from mains before cleaning Use a dry cloth or one slightly dampened with water to clean the external case part...

Page 26: ...able and is easily reached by the operator may be used as a disconnecting device Always use the three prong AC power cord supplied with this instrument Failure to ensure adequate earth grounding by not using this cord may cause instrument damage This instrument has autoranging line voltage input Be sure the supply voltage is within the specified range Use of controls or adjustment or performance o...

Page 27: ...u must not discard this electrical electronic product in domestic household waste Product Category With reference to the equipment types in the WEEE Directive Annex I this product is classed as a Monitoring and Control instrumentation product Do not dispose in domestic household waste To return unwanted products contact your local Agilent office or see www agilent com environment product for more ...

Page 28: ...n procedure The other reference patchcord is standard single mode fiber and should be used for normalization measurements 2 Install the Tunable Laser Source module into the 8164B mainframe by sliding the module in from the rear of the mainframe and tightening the four thumb screws on the rear panel If more than one 8164B is included a TLS should be installed in each one Fiber Optic connectors are ...

Page 29: ...ected patchcord labeled TLS Fiber between TLS Output 2 and the TLS Input of the analyzer as shown in Figure 1 This patchcord is polarization maintaining fiber PMF and should not be interchanged with standard fibers The connectors make angled contact Standard operation is provided by using the high power Output 2 of the TLS which includes variable attenuator functionality However for special applic...

Page 30: ...ould be attached to the 81634B module in Slot 2 This end has a special coating and should not make a physical connection to the fiber This end should also not be cleaned with contact Only air should be used if necessary for normal cleaning The second patchcord labeled Monitor 2 Connector at one end should be similarly connected between the Monitor 2 Port of the analyzer and the 81634B in Slot 3 11...

Page 31: ...should have the address 19 the unit attached to Port 3 should have the address 18 and so on For the Wavelength Meter Option Only 12 Place the 86122A multi wavelength meter on top of the PNA 13 Connect a GPIB cable from the 86122A to the GPIB port on either the PNA or TLS mainframe 14 On the 86122A press Setup GPIB Setup and set the address to 10 15 Connect a patchcord from the 86122A Optical Input...

Page 32: ...ptical Receiver Source Output USB Monitor 1 Monitor 2 TLS Input Output 1 to 86122A opt Output 2 Slot 1 switch opt Slot 2 Opt 400 Slot 3 Opt 400 Slot 4 PMF switch opt Optical Receiver Source Output USB Monitor 1 Monitor 2 TLS Input Output 1 to 86122A opt Output 2 Slot 1 switch opt Slot 2 Opt 400 Slot 3 Opt 400 Slot 4 PMF switch opt ...

Page 33: ...nd Edition 33 Figure 2 a Rear Panel Parallel I O Cable GPIB Cables BNC Trigger Cable GPIB 0 Controller USB Power Cords Remote Interlock 50 Ohm load Parallel I O Cable GPIB Cables BNC Trigger Cable GPIB 0 Controller USB Power Cords Remote Interlock 50 Ohm load ...

Page 34: ...34 Agilent 86038B Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer Second Edition Figure 2 b Rear Panel ...

Page 35: ...as warmed up for at least 90 minutes The verification DUT must also be allowed to reach ambient temperature for at least 60 minutes prior to measurement Dirty connections will cause poor measurement quality Be sure to clean all fiber ends connectors and test ports before making connections Refer to Cleaning Information on page 304 This procedure will take approximately 3 hours to complete includin...

Page 36: ...er at Port 1 is too low then check theoptical connections between the Source Output and Optical Receiver 3 Set up the measurements with the parameters summarized in the table below using the items in the Setup menu 4 Leaving the 2 meter reference patch cord attached as in Step 2 press the button Begin Normalization select PDA Correction and then select Normalize When the normalization measurement ...

Page 37: ...ce please refer to Defining Traces on page 45 Since the normalization and measurement are made with the same connection the ideal displayed loss should be 0 dB and a measurement curve should look similar to Fig 3 The variation from 0 dB is a measure of the noise and repeatability of the loss measurement and should be within a tolerance of about 0 1 dB with option 400 0 02 dB Figure 3 Sample Gain L...

Page 38: ...r standard correction Bottom for Option 400 c Check the GD curve Since the normalization and measurement are made with the same connection the relative GD should ideally be 0 ps and a measurement curve should look similar to Fig 5 The variation from a linear fit to the data is a measure of the noise and ...

Page 39: ...ts larger than this Figure 5 Sample GD trace d Check the DGD curve Since the normalization and measurement are made with the same connection and the patch cord has little DGD the displayed DGD should be close to 0 ps as in Fig 6 The variation from zero is a measure of the noise and any intrinsic offset and should be within a tolerance of 0 1ps Note also that the average DGD PMD can be displayed in...

Page 40: ...e FC FC adapter connect the free end of the reference patch cord to the 2 m mixed fiber patch cord MXF Then connect the free end of the MXF patch cord to the 86038B Optical Receiver input connector Make sure that the fiber position is stable by using the Real Time Monitor 9 Then press the button Begin Measurement This allows a measurement with additional CD and DGD a Check the DGD curve The MXF pa...

Page 41: ...ps Figure 7 Sample DGD trace for the MXF fiber b Check the CD curve The noise level can again be displayed using Curve Fit and Deviation only settings as in Fig 8 A Quadratic curve should make a good fit but if it does not in the measured wavelength range then a Sellmeier fit can be used The deviation represents the noise level and should be within 0 07 ps nm ...

Page 42: ...ength can be measured This should be about 2 m This value is not calibrated for the device under test Then the CD measurement can be displayed as CD Coefficient in ps nm km as in Fig 9 The value shown should be similar to the values for standard single mode fiber In particular it should show a value near 17 ps nm km in the range from 1550 1560 nm ...

Page 43: ...on procedure and together with up to date instrument calibration assures the specified performance Additional verification of Zero Dispersion Wavelength and Zero Dispersion Slope measurements is available by using the 86038B 510 Verification Fiber option For this verification please follow the instructions included with the 10 km verification fiber spool ...

Page 44: ... the front panel keys or from the menu bar The front panel keys are separated into groupings by a group name which corresponds to the display menu bar names For example the Setup group of front panel keys has the exact same functions as the Setup menu on the menu bar Either access method can be used alone or in combination for any measurement Figure 10 86038B User Interface ...

Page 45: ...ce setup panel select Port 1 and CD as the Measurement type 5 From the Navigation area press Next Trace to highlight the second trace tab on the graph 6 In the Define Trace setup panel select Port 1 and DGD as the measurement type 7 Press Close to save the trace definitions For each trace you can specify any active port s measurement traces and one of nine measurement types GD Group Delay CD Chrom...

Page 46: ...en a check box is highlighted use the Select navigation key to toggle between states When a drop down list box is highlighted press Select to open the list Then use the navigation keys to select the value Press Select to choose the function When a check box is highlighted use the Select navigation key to toggle between states When a drop down list box is highlighted press Select to open the list T...

Page 47: ...ce These three chapters cover the linkages between the different measurement that can be made specific devices being measured and the setup parameters used to make the measurements Prepare the Normalization Connect the reference patch cord for the normalization between the Source Output and Optical Receiver connectors Check the connections with the Real Time Port Monitor Refer to Real Time Port Mo...

Page 48: ...rsion and Loss Analyzer Second Edition Measurement Process Connect the DUT Begin the Measurement View the data and manipulate the display and markers Smooth or curve fit the data as desired Save the measurement and or export the data ...

Page 49: ...Gain Loss 51 Group Delay Chromatic Dispersion Optical Phase 52 Polarization Mode Dispersion Differential Group Delay 54 Polarization Dependent Loss PDL 56 Fiber length 56 Description of the 86038B 57 Measurement Method MPS 59 Choosing Setup Parameters 61 Multiple Port Configurations 73 Normalization and Measurement 74 Swept and Stepped Measurement Modes 77 ...

Page 50: ... your PDLA it is recommended that you read Chapter 2 Measurement Concepts Chapter 3 Making Measurements and Chapter 4 Function Reference These three chapters cover the linkages between the different measurements that can be made specific devices being measured and the setup parameters used to make the measurements NOTE ...

Page 51: ...signal level between the input and output of a device It is defined as 10 log power in power out and is always a positive number for devices without gain The mechanisms that produce insertion loss include simple absorptive effects as well as scattering and reflective effects In long fibers the insertion loss scales with the fiber length Then the parameter Attenuation Coefficient is useful which is...

Page 52: ... is proportional to the derivative of optical phase of the transmitted signal with respect to optical frequency More intuitively group delay is the time required for information in a signal that is any specific point on the modulation waveform to travel the length of the optical path By contrast the phase delay is the time required for a point on the unmodulated optical carrier wave to travel the ...

Page 53: ...d GD ripple Similarly the deviation of the Optical Phase from design is valuable to evaluate a device The Optical Phase as the frequency integral of GD multiplied by 1 is ideally linear in optical frequency for a device with no dispersion The negative slope of optical phase is the absolute group delay and is proportional to the length of the optical path Usually only relative phase is of interest ...

Page 54: ...ld increase the signal linewidth and thus resolution so as to falsely reduce the apparent peak to peak amplitude of the ripple The ripple can be displayed as Deviation from the Curve Fit function Tips on Measuring Chromatic Dispersion CD The combination of moderate smoothing of both the GD trace and the CD trace may lower the CD trace noise and preserve the CD wavelength resolution better than smo...

Page 55: ...he index of refraction in directions perpendicular transverse to the direction of propagation Differential group delay is also observed in devices in which the light is split into two paths according to polarization and later recombined In this situation any difference in the parallel path lengths produces a differential group delay In optical integrated circuits a common cause of PMD is the asymm...

Page 56: ...s for DGD apply to making accurate PDL measurements In particular noise and drift should be minimized Care should also be taken to avoid other sources of PDL in the measurement setup like switches with appreciable PDL or noncontacted angled connectors Fiber length This measurement may be applied to any test device but is usually applied to optical fiber The fiber length is derived from measurement...

Page 57: ...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 provid...

Page 58: ...58 Agilent 86038B Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer Second Edition Figure 11 86038B Block Diagram ...

Page 59: ...fferent states of input polarization Using Mueller Matrix analysis these measurements allow calculation of the phase shift and amplitude for any other polarization state and in particular for those that give maximum and minimum values The DGD at each wavelength is calculated using the minimum to maximum phase change in the same formula used to calculate group delay but in this case the polarizatio...

Page 60: ...l states of optical polarization so that the result is polarization averaged The Optical Phase trace is calculated as the optical frequency integral of the GD Since the GD trace displays relative GD values the measured or specified length value is used to provide an absolute scale for the GD Thus the slope of Optical Phase does correspond to absolute GD when the length is correctly determined The ...

Page 61: ...cted signal is detected to recover the modulation envelope and the envelope phase is measured relative to the RF source Any change in the group delay τ of the test device produces a corresponding change in the modulation phase In practice the wavelength is stepped or swept and the change in the group delay τ for each wavelength increment is calculated from the measured change in phase according to...

Page 62: ... amount of phase change measured in response to a wavelength step is the product of device dispersion modulation frequency and wavelength step This equation provides several key insights into the capabilities of the modulation phase shift measurement method Relationship of setup parameters to measurement noise Here we examine how the terms on the right hand side of Equation 4 influence measurement...

Page 63: ...or the next step If the next wavelength step produces a phase change larger than 180 degrees the phase detector loses the history of the actual phase change and gives us only an apparent phase change For example if a wavelength step produces an actual phase change of positive 185 degrees it will be interpreted by the phase detector as a change of negative 175 degrees This is the phase wrapping err...

Page 64: ... in the Library section of the public Agilent product web page for the 86038B Maximum RF Modulation Frequency MHZ The following table lists recommended modulation frequencies Any modulation smaller than that listed will give correct results that is no phase wrapping Smaller modulation frequencies will have more noise and better resolution Table cells that have an arrow symbol ℜ indicate that you m...

Page 65: ...but can appear with the expected shape at a multiple of the expected period To eliminate aliasing use a smaller wavelength increment If the RF modulation sideband separation is less than the wavelength increment and the wavelength increment can be reduced without changing the period or shape of the measurement then aliasing is not present Relationship of setup parameters to resolution Two measurem...

Page 66: ... This causes the dependence of resolution on frequency Again there is an implication for detecting features between the sampled points Even if the wavelength increment is arbitrarily small the RF modulation sideband separation must be small compared to the wavelength spacing over which the device under test has variations of interest If the RF modulation sideband separation is more than the wavele...

Page 67: ...GD and PDL accuracy As with GD measurements increasing the modulation frequency reduces the influence of phase noise on DGD Because typical DGD values below 10 ps are much smaller than the modulation period even at the highest modulation frequency phase wraps are usually not a problem However at high DGD the lower and upper sidebands of the modulated signal experience different Jones matrices from...

Page 68: ...l range FSR which is the optical frequency change across one period of the ripple For example ripple with a period of 80pm has a FSR of about 10 GHz The case analyzed by Figure 14 is when the sidebands lie equally spaced on either side of a peak of a sinusoidal ripple shape The of ps curve shows the percent error for GD ripple versus the FSR of the ripple divided by the RF modulation frequency For...

Page 69: ...samples per period of the group delay ripple 3 Draw a horizontal line to the left and right hand axes Read the wavelength step and the modulation frequency from the left and right vertical axes respectively To balance the limiting effects of both parameters the chart in Figure 15 assumes that the double sided spectral width of the RF modulation spectrum is identical to the wavelength increment Of ...

Page 70: ...igh resolution we face the noise limit implied by Equation 5 Figure 16 provides an intuitive guide to the management of this noise The brick walls represent limits The left right axis of the figure represents the trace noise of the group delay measurement The upper half of the figure shows the modulation frequency We reduce into achieve better resolution movement to the right in the figure but eve...

Page 71: ...elect to repeat the measurements and average the traces to reduce noise These three noise control approaches all lengthen the measurement time Selecting setup conditions for a new type of narrowband device Identifying the best setup conditions is a process that should be performed once before testing a new class of device Once the appropriate setup conditions are determined they can be saved and u...

Page 72: ... approach to choosing appropriate setup parameters is to check your values using the equations and graphs presented earlier in this section For example if the device is expected to exhibit fine group delay ripple of a particular wavelength period select a wavelength step and modulation frequency from Figure 15 Suggested reading Fiber Optic Test and Measurement Derickson Ed T Niemi et al Limitation...

Page 73: ... particular optional switches can be used to provide multiport measurement support The 86038B software supports the use of a 1x2 switch or 1x4 switch to connect the PDLA to multiple input or output ports of a device For example the 1X4 switch can be used to allow measurement of 3 or 4 channels of an AWG multiplexer and to store all of these results in one data file A 1x2 switch can be added to mea...

Page 74: ...the broad heading of normalization The 86038B contains an automated modulator bias adjustment function that is performed during a normalization or by itself through the menu item System Optimize Optical Modulator Bias Amplitude modulation in the 86038B is accomplished using a lithium niobate Mach Zehnder modulator In this type of modulator the light is split into two paths which experience differe...

Page 75: ... where the DUT is expected to exhibit a significant variation of insertion loss or gain over the measurement wavelength range or when high accuracy DGD is desired This procedure adds about one minute to the normalization routine Phase dynamic accuracy PDA describes the extent to which a change in the input RF power level causes an apparent erroneous change in RF phase The PDA error is highest at v...

Page 76: ...fer to Length on page 106 to setup a length measurement Wavelength Accuracy Correction Using the optional 86122A Multi Wavelength Meter wavelength correction is performed for stepped normalizations when a stepped measurement is chosen Wavelength correction is then always performed if an 86122A is connected Five wavelength points are measured and the average offset is applied For more information r...

Page 77: ...ements for high wavelength resolution applications The time reduction also reduces the sensitivity of GD CD measurements to GD drift in the device such as a long fiber with changing temperature However the stepped mode may be preferred for measurements at a limited set of wavelengths or to allow averaging many measurement samples to minimize noise This mode also minimizes the elapsed time involved...

Page 78: ...78 Agilent 86038B Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer Second Edition ...

Page 79: ...ersion and Loss Analyzer Second Edition 79 3 Making Measurements Introduction 80 Quick Setup Measurement Process 81 Flexible Measurement Process 82 Setup Parameters and What They Do 83 Choosing Setup Parameters for Your Device 85 ...

Page 80: ... your ODA it is recommended that you read Chapter 2 Measurement Concepts Chapter 3 Making Measurements and Chapter 4 Function Reference These three chapters cover the linkages between the different measurements that can be made specific devices being measured and the setup parameters used to make the measurements NOTE ...

Page 81: ...ed but the low SSE Output 1 can be configured if needed 4 Choose which attributes to measure Select stepped or swept mode 5 If desired select advanced features Six Polarization States generation of matrix data or use of external power meters if Option 400 is installed 6 Set the measurement wavelength range 7 Set the resolution slider lowest to highest resolution 8 Set the Sensitivity Slider low to...

Page 82: ...lect port configuration if a switch is installed 2 Select Laser if more than one are installed based on wavelength range 3 Choose which attributes to measure Select stepped or swept mode 4 Enable the Length measurement if needed 5 Set the measurement wavelength range 6 Set the normalization wavelength range if different from the measurement range 7 Set the wavelength increment modulation frequency...

Page 83: ...t measurement samples Together with the wavelength range this determines the number of points in the spectrum The maximum number is 16001 Modulation frequency The frequency of the AM modulation impressed on the optical signal by the modulator inside the optical test set The modulation frequency helps determine wavelength resolution and sensitivity Samples Point The number of times the recovered RF...

Page 84: ...vailable from the 81600B 160 tunable laser source for example from 1520 nm to 1610 nm For other tunable laser sources refer to the individual TLSspecification At higher TLS power levels Amplitude Dynamic Range and Group Delay Noise is improved but phase dynamic accuracy PDA effects are more pronounced After changing the TLS power normalization without PDA is required The 86038B will automatically ...

Page 85: ...ential group delay DGD may exhibit multiple peaks and valleys Approximately 0 25 dB km attenuation Measurement Tips The relatively smooth and analytic behavior of the group delay of this device makes it possible to use larger wavelength increments and higher modulation frequency without concern for loss of wavelength resolution A good choice is 2 GHz as used for the specifications Wavelength incre...

Page 86: ...not be set too high and the Drift Correction functionality should be used to reduce drift sensitivity Since the CD uncertainty increases for small values of wavelength resolution high resolution and high resolution is usually not needed for fiber the resolution should be kept down by either using wide wavelength increment or smoothing the data to a wide resolution It is recommended to smooth the G...

Page 87: ...MD measurement of devices with low PMD it is advised to measure over a wider range to improve the average value If stepped measurements are used the following tips also apply For higher loss fibers improve signal to noise by using a narrower IF bandwidth and a larger number of samples Especially when measuring in step mode select a modulation frequency and wavelength step appropriate to the expect...

Page 88: ... group delay ripple is not required select a modulation frequency and wavelength step appropriate to the maximum expected level of dispersion The use of curve fits is likely to be useful in this application The markers can be used to limit the fit to the relevant wavelength range The deviation spectrum the difference between the measured data and the fit can be displayed to show the ripple The com...

Page 89: ...aging a large number of samples at each wavelength also reducing the noise Try both modes to find the best trade off of accuracy and measurement speed Erbium Doped Fiber Pumped Characteristics High gain 20 to 30 dB High power output 20 dBm Amplified spontaneous emission ASE noise Often a broadband device Low dispersion very slight change in group delay over wavelength PMD is usually specified and ...

Page 90: ...rrow passband and fine group delay structure requires high wavelength resolution measurements Swept mode should be used to measure many points with small increment like 10 pm in a reasonable time including the polarization dependence The high wavelength resolution also usually require using a small modulation frequency Try 500 MHz To reduce noise the low IF bandwidths like 30 Hz may be required Fu...

Page 91: ...The broadband nature of these devices allows you to trade off wavelength resolution for faster measurement speed Set the modulation frequency in manual mode to 2000 MHz In either swept or stepped mode optimize measurement speed by setting the wavelength increment just small enough to resolve the wavelength dependencies of the attributes being measured If you use the smoothing function to reduce tr...

Page 92: ...92 Agilent 86038B Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer Second Edition ...

Page 93: ...Dispersion and Loss Analyzer Second Edition 93 4 Function Reference Introduction 94 File Menu 95 View Menu 97 System Menu 98 Setup Menu 104 Measure Menu 115 Display Menu 119 Navigating the Front Panel 129 Toolbar Functions 130 ...

Page 94: ...der test DUT This section assumes that you have a working knowledge of an MS Windows based computer and its operating conventions It also assumes you know how to open save and close files For help with any of these techniques please see your MS Windows documentation To get the most performance out of your ODA it is recommended that you read Chapter 2 Measurement Concepts Chapter 3 Making Measureme...

Page 95: ...ings trace data points and normalization data The file is saved with a oda extension When this file is recalled using File Recall all the setup parameters will be set to the saved conditions Selecting Additional Data export or Additional Mueller PMD export will also cause the corresponding csv or pme file to be exported with the same file name See Export below Export Saves a file for use with exte...

Page 96: ...t is that the file size is small however the image quality is reduced bmp Image file format that contains a screen capture of the ODA application The benefit of this format is that the image quality is high however the file size is very large tif Image file format that contains a screen capture of the ODA application The benefit of this format is that the file size is small and the image quality i...

Page 97: ...Agilent 86038B Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer Second Edition 97 View Menu The View menu is used to access the desktop screen Minimize Application Minimizes the PDLA application window ...

Page 98: ... bus to be searched for new instruments Table 4 2 Default values Function Preset Value Function Preset Value Dispersion Measurement Type GD CD Swept X Axis Scale Minimuma 1493 nm Length Specify 1000m X Axis Scale Maximuma 1640 nm Active Ports Port1 X Axis Scale Centera 1566 5 nm Measurement Start Wavelengtha 1493 nm X Axis Scale Spana 147 nm Measurement Stop Wavelengtha 1640 nm Y Axis Scale Refere...

Page 99: ...e 86122A multi wavelength meter to determine a wavelength offset correction for the TLS during the Normalization process To use this function the Low SSE output of the TLS must be connected to the 86122A during normalization The wavelength meter is used only during normalization and not before or during actual measurements Status Log Opens the Status Log window and displays a history of all instru...

Page 100: ... change over the past 2 5 minutes state Yellow will be displayed When the environment becomes stable again state Green will be displayed without delay New Heater Set Point If the environment changes more than 6 C from the turn on state the icon may turn Red indicating thermal regulation is no longer possible To reset the thermal regulator to the present environment right click on the thermometer i...

Page 101: ...weep trigger mode at fixed wavelength and uses a 2 GHz modulation frequency and 30 Hz IF bandwidth The wavelength can be set in the wavelength text box generally to the center of the measurement wavelength range or to the pass band in the case of a wavelength filtering DUT The real time monitor can be used to check the stability of the test system test device and interconnecting cables before perf...

Page 102: ...ring normal measurement procedures this is activated automatically as needed during normalization measurements Manual activation can be used for diagnostic purposes especially if the setup seems to deliver insufficient optical power In that case this optimization can be applied before using the Real Time Port Monitor Manual use will cause the current normalization measurement to become invalid A n...

Page 103: ...after testing the change of parameters Toggle mainframe local lockout status This command can be used to allow or lock out manual local access to the 8164B display and user interface When local access is locked out the 86038B software expects exclusive control of the instruments and does not reduntantly resend the settings which allows faster measurements Disabling the display also helps prevent a...

Page 104: ...the number of samples for each wavelength at 4 or 6 states of polarization In Swept mode the phase and amplitude are sampled periodically as the wavelength is continuously swept This yields a single sample of both phase and amplitude at a series of wavelength values The density of samples is set by the wavelength increment Swept mode can dramatically reduce measurement time The sweep speed is chos...

Page 105: ...this field is enabled Selecting Use External Power meter causes Gain Loss PDL and Mueller Matrix data to be based on measurements with the Power Sensor modules instead of the standard Optical Receiver This provides enhanced IL and PDL accuracy specifications Indicating the correct expected DUT Min Loss Max Gain allows the instrument to determine the maximum expected power to the power meter and to...

Page 106: ...efractive index value Index values of 1 to 10 can be chosen This feature is intended especially for fiber and cable test applications but sub millimeter accuracy can be achieved on short devices The procedure measures and stores the absolute group delay of the test device at the chosen wavelength The displayed length in meters is based on the user entered refractive index which can also be changed...

Page 107: ...r at wavelengths where the laser has low power may include the effects of a mode hop where the laser can make a small jump in wavelength The wavelength is accurately measured at the point where data samples are triggered but some error can be introduced because the swept samples are integrated over part of the wavelength interval between the triggers This can sometimes be seen as isolated spikes e...

Page 108: ...on shortcut accesses the Begin Normalization panel For more information on performing a normalization refer to Begin Normalization on page 115 Sensitivity Resolution Resolution Area Increment Specifies the separation between adjacent measurement wavelengths The minimum increment is 0 0001 nm Trace Points Shows the number of measurement wavelengths including the start and stop wavelengths The value...

Page 109: ...and device measurements causes a loss gain offset due to the frequency response details of the optical receiver and the network analyzer RF circuitry This point is true even when PDA correction is not selected If the frequency is changed after the normalization measurement the normalization will become invalid In this case DGD PDL measurements will not be performed before the normalization is redo...

Page 110: ...ing a high insertion loss device See Smooth Tips on IF Bandwidth Selection For higher loss typically longer fibers improve signal to noise by using a narrower IF bandwidth Expect to trade off measurement speed Duty Factor For swept mode measurements only As mentioned above the laser sweep speed depends on the wavelength interval and IF Bandwidth parameter settings Since the speed can only be set t...

Page 111: ...s due to movement of air over the test path In swept measurements the elapsed time between wavelength points is very short but drift may occur between the sweeps for each polarization state Selecting Drift Correction in GD CD DGD PDL Swept mode causes the sweep at the first polarization state to be repeated after the four or six sweeps are finished Any drift between the first sweep and this repeti...

Page 112: ...liverable output power depends primarily on the wavelength range but also somewhat on the sweep speed and wavelength increment An appropriate limit setting at normalization can be used when trying measurements at different increment and IFBW settings in order to assure that the measurement can always be made at the same power level When the measurement cannot be made at the same power level the no...

Page 113: ...conditions the status message shows up to 120 minutes as the estimate This status message is updated every minute A TLS Settling can be initiated in two ways by the PDLA TLS Settling can be initiated by the user at anytime with the Settle TLS Now control This may be convenient before a long measurement process to avoid interruption When the estimated time indicator turns from a yellow to red backg...

Page 114: ... one measurement of the wavelength range Repeat Sweep In this mode the spectral measurements are continuously repeated until the measurement is canceled or the instrument is set to Single Sweep This mode results in an optical spectrum analyzer like real time display and is valuable while making adjustments Tip Fast access to the Trigger Mode setting is from the icon on the toolbar ...

Page 115: ...uation of a device or the setup parameters but the results will not be fully calibrated Existing normalization data will be invalid for measurements when some setup parameters are changed and then a new normalization is required Changes for which normalization data become invalid include increase of measurement range beyond the normalization range increment decrease by more than a factor of two TL...

Page 116: ...GD result via the amplitude to phase conversion The PDA effect varies with modulation frequency and for this reason the phase dynamic accuracy correction is valid only at the modulation frequency at which the PDA calibration was performed There is often some advantage in attenuating the power level seen at the receiver to reduce the need for PDA correction The amplitude to phase conversion effect ...

Page 117: ...alization measurement results can be viewed in the graphs The controls at the top right of the display can be used to select the port and the polarization state to be viewed If only GD CD measurements are made there will only be results for Pol State 1 Clear Clear accesses a panel to clear the normalization data You can choose to clear the modulator bias value phase dynamic accuracy data or GD and...

Page 118: ...118 Agilent 86038B Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer Second Edition Cancel Measurement Stops the measurement normalization or length measurement whichever one is currently in progress ...

Page 119: ...wavelength range set in the Measurement Range setup panel Span Specifies the wavelength span to be viewed on the graphs This setting is independent of the measurement wavelength range set in the Measurement Range setup panel View Full Width Sets the graph s start and stop wavelengths range to the same values as the existing measurement curves Synchronize All Graphs Sets all four graphs to the same...

Page 120: ...cified in radians Units Division Specifies the units per division of the vertical scale Ref Level Position Sets the position of the reference level to the chosen scale line on the graph where 0 is the bottom and 10 is the top line View Full Range Ensures that the highest and lowest Y value is visible on the trace Snap Enabled When selected the mouse pan and zoom functions are snapped to a rounded ...

Page 121: ...imum Point No Offset Autoscale During Measurement For Swept measurements an autoscale is performed on all graphs at the end of a measurement For Stepped measurements an autoscale on all graphs is performed at the end of each wavelength increment Marker Setup Show Markers Turns the marker functions on or off Tip Toggle the markers off then on to reposition the markers near the center of the viewabl...

Page 122: ...the trace Lowest places the marker on the lowest peak or pit amplitude on the trace Next Down places the marker on the next lowest peak or pit amplitude of the current marker position Next Up places the marker on the next highest peak or pit amplitude of the current marker position Highest places the marker on the highest peak or pit amplitude on the trace Search Criteria Search Type Specifies the...

Page 123: ...l Marker Functions Active Trace Displays the currently active trace Use the Next Trace key in the Navigation area to change the active trace Active Marker Displays and allows you to specify the active marker Before using Marker Search and Marker Functions the Active Marker must first be identified To Center Moves the scale to put the currently active marker at the center of the viewable vertical r...

Page 124: ... the Navigation area press Next Trace until the desired graph and trace tab are highlighted that is shown in white 3 From the Display area press Define Trace 4 In the Define Trace setup panel select Port 1and CD as the measurement type 5 From the Navigation area press Next Trace to highlight the second trace tab on the graph 6 In the Define Trace setup panel select Port 1and DGD as the measurement...

Page 125: ... GD trace If a GD trace has been smoothed or curve fitted selecting that trace as the GD Source may provide a lower noise CD trace Gain Options Area Show PDL Contribution Adds display of maximum and minimum Gain Loss traces with respect to polarization state if PDL data exists Attenuation Coeff dB km The attenuation coefficient can be displayed if the device length has been measured or specified S...

Page 126: ...ng performs a weighted average smooth where the weights are 25 50 25 for a 3 point window Tips on the Smooth Function Be cautious when using smoothing functions as severe smoothing can affect the accuracy of a succeeding curve fitting process The fact that direct differentiation of the group delay data emphasizes the noise suggests applying smoothing to the group delay curve before differentiation...

Page 127: ... described below can be made dependent on wavelength or optical frequency that is the independent variable x in the equations can be either wavelength or frequency The labels for the frequency dependent fits include the text frequ Linear fits the data to a straight line The equation is of the form y mx b It is commonly used for dispersion shifted fiber in the 1550 nm wavelength region in which wav...

Page 128: ...avelength This allows identification of zero dispersion wavelengths which fall outside of the measurement range In some cases due to the peculiarity of the five term Sellmeier fit zero dispersion wavelengths found outside of the measurement range may not correspond to actual zero dispersion wavelengths of the device under test This fit often provides the lowest RMS Error of the various fits so it ...

Page 129: ...the desired trace using the Next Trace key and then press Change View until just that one graph is displayed Next Trace Activates each graph trace in a sequential manner each time the Next Trace key is pressed If one graph is displayed repeated key presses selects one trace and then the other If two or more graphs are displayed repeated key presses select each trace in a sequential order Use Next ...

Page 130: ...values that ensure that the entire trace is visible Auto Scale Selected Trace Performs an auto scale for the selected trace on the selected graph only Auto Scale Selected Graph Performs an auto scale for the selected graph only Auto Scale All Graphs Performs an auto scale on all graphs Auto Scale During Measurement For Swept measurements an auto scale is performed on all graphs at the end of a mea...

Page 131: ...th portion of the trace If you make an error while zooming in click the Auto Scale icon to restore full view Once you are viewing the minimum possible span attempting to zoom further will attempt to center the viewable range on the center of the area dragged on with the mouse but the span will remain the same Vertical Zoom Zooms the y axis span on the active graph Therefore the zoomed in area expa...

Page 132: ...ation modulator bias optimization or length measurement whichever one is currently in progress Trigger Mode Toggle Continuous Sweep Switches between continuous sweep mode and single sweep mode each time this icon is pressed Information Field The drop down menu field in the upper right corner can be used to display a parameter of particular interest Setup parameters like modulator bias or input pol...

Page 133: ...k 138 How to Change Network Settings 139 Install the Remote Client 141 Program Structure events vs sequential 147 Front Panel Functions with No Remote Equivalent 149 Enumerations 150 Event Table 154 Troubleshooting 157 pdlaClient Front Panel Maps 158 Example 1 Simple Application for Controlling the PDLA 167 Example 2 Control from Excel 200 Example 3 Control from LabView 203 Example 4 Complete appl...

Page 134: ...he PDLA uses NET remoting as the foundation for its external communications Remoting is the process of programs or components interacting across different processes or machines This technology provides the foundation for distributed applications and it replaces DCOM In NET remoting the server program publishes an object on a network channel and the client program subscribes to that channel when lo...

Page 135: ...me familiarity with controlling remote objects from within that environment Detailed examples are provided for VB 6 0 VB NET and C the most common environments for controlling the PDLA These examples start from a blank project allowing you to see all the steps required Agilent Technologies does not recommend controlling the PDLA from C or C because of the difficulty of interfacing with COM objects...

Page 136: ...r Controlling the PDLA 167 consists of the same simple program implemented three times once in VB 6 0 VB NET and C respectively Choose the version for the language you are most likely to use Example 1 is presented in a series of steps meant to be manually typed in or pasted from the electronic version of this manual The example shows you how to create a project and all the steps it takes to interf...

Page 137: ...programming example has not been provided because NET passes its arrays to COM as Safe Arrays This is easily handled by VB 6 0 but VC takes a lot of extra work The Class Wizard cannot handle them all Programmatically it takes a bit of code to do this on the VC side but according to the documentation it can be done This primarily affects the retrieval of the raw data array VC has difficulty dealing...

Page 138: ...it is also possible to connect it to network printers and remote servers with access to shared folders and files How to Connect the PDLA to Your Network The PDLA comes configured for DHCP networking and has a default machine name In many cases connecting the PDLA to your LAN is simply a case of registering the machine name with your IT department To connect to your LAN power down your instrument c...

Page 139: ... your network settings are unique to your IT infrastructure Agilent Technologies will not be able to assist you with connecting your instrument to your network Please contact your network administrator or IT department for assistance For more information refer to the MS Windows resource kit available from Microsoft that is appropriate for your computer system You can also refer to the online Help ...

Page 140: ...g changes restart the instrument To configure TCP IP for static or dynamic addressing To get started follow the same steps listed above Editing your instrument s protocols and file access permissions can result in unwanted behaviors that are difficult to reverse Ensure that your changes are valid Please consult with your network administrator concerning advanced TCP IP and multi protocol configura...

Page 141: ...rom the Agilent web site 3 Instantiate pdlaClient Before you can interface with the PDLA you have to declare the client object The client object is an object written by Agilent and provided to you as part of the PDLA Remote Client install This object goes out over the LAN to interface with the PDLA and provides a defined interface for you to use To provide better compatibility the PDLA actually ha...

Page 142: ... Establish Connection to the PDLA The first thing you have to do with your pdlaClient is to establish a connection to the particular PDLA you want to talk to You need to know the network name of the PDLA Once the PDLA is on the LAN you can get the network name from the front panel by select Help About The network name is displayed near the middle of the panel Call pdlaClient Connectivity Connect i...

Page 143: ... are four different measurement modes the same choices you get on the CD PMD front panel setup menu The above example sets a step of 0 01 nm This would set 1001 trace points for the requested 10 nm sweep 1535 to 1545 nm You can activate port 1 port 2 or both If your setup supports multiport measurements you can activate single ports eODAPort_One Or eODAPort_Two Or Table 5 3 Measurement Modes eDisp...

Page 144: ...e user make connection MsgBox Connect PDLA for normalization Start the normalization pdlaClient Actions Normalize Give it time to get started before checking flags Sleep 1000 Wait for TriggerComplete but no longer than 30 minutes Dim elapsedTime As Double elapsedTime 0 Do DoEvents Sleep 100 elapsedTime elapsedTime 100 If elapsedTime 1000 60 30 Then Exit Do Loop Until pdlaClient Status TriggerCompl...

Page 145: ...tatus TriggerComplete True 8 Transfer Data Now that there is valid data in the PDLA you will want to transfer it out To determine the wavelength axis read the start and stop wavelengths and the number of points You can determine the number of points in the returned arrays then calculate the wavelength for each point as part of your application This example queries the gain Dim gainData As Double G...

Page 146: ... keeps track of who is connected to it If one of the connections quits responding the PDLA will go through a time consuming clean up process to remove references to the dead connection To avoid this and to avoid Visual Studio getting confused it is very important to issue a disconnect statement for every connect statement even when debugging If you are debugging and decide to halt program executio...

Page 147: ...machine wakes up when it receives events such as a thread completing a calculation or an instrument completing a sweep Because of this use of events this style of programming is often called event based The PDLA is configured as an event based remote client because you can make an event based client behave sequentially but it is difficult to make a sequential client efficiently multitask For a spe...

Page 148: ...ave to wait for the initial connect to the PDLA It typically takes about five seconds for the connection to be fully established you can either check for connectivity each time you start a block of activity with the PDLA which is a good idea or you can have a similar wait loop To check for connectivity if pdlaClient Connectivity Connected FALSE Then messageToUser Lost connection to PDLA unable to ...

Page 149: ...nctions that do not have an equivalent remote command In general functions that are used only rarely and functions that are better implemented on your computer for example markers have no remote control equivalent X Scale Y Scale Auto Scale Marker Setup Marker Search Marker Function Smoothing Wavemeter Config Optical Test Set Heater Set Point Navigation ...

Page 150: ...tObjects ODACommon In VB 6 0 the enumerations all come off of the InstrumentObjects interface although you will not need to know this Table 5 4 PDLA Enumerations Enumeration Values in VB 6 Values in NET eDispersionMode pdlaClient DispersionMode eDispersionMode_CD_PMD_Stepped eDispersionMode_CD_Stepped eDispersionMode_CD_Swept eDispersionMode_CD_PMD_Swept eDispersionMode CD_PMD_Stepped eDispersionM...

Page 151: ...Mode eLayoutMode_QUAD_GRAPH eLayoutMode_DUAL_GRAPH eLayoutMode_SINGLE_GRAPH eLayoutMode QUAD_GRAPH eLayoutMode DUAL_GRAPH eLayoutMode SINGLE_GRAPH eLengthMode pdlaClient Length Mode eLengthMode_Measure eLengthMode_Specify ODALength eLengthMode 1 Measure Specify eMeasNormDataType pdlaClient Results FiberLength eMeasNormDataType_Measurement eMeasNormDataType_Normalization eMeasNormDataType Measureme...

Page 152: ...Complete_Warn enumStatus START enumTestType enumTestType_DriftMonitor enumTestType_GD_CD_PMD_Stepped enumTestType_GD_CD_Stepped enumTestType_GD_CD_SWEPT enumTestType_GD_CD_PMD_Swept enumTestType_Length enumTestType_ModBias enumTestType_PDA enumTestType_WavelengthCorrection enumTestType_OptimizePolarizer enumTestType_ZeroExternalPWM enumTestType DriftMonitor enumTestType GD_CD_PMD_Stepped enumTestT...

Page 153: ...raceLetter pdlaClient Display DefineTrace eTraceLetter_TraceA eTraceLetter_TraceB eTraceLetter TraceA eTraceLetter TraceB eTriggerType pdlaClient TriggerModeParams eTriggerType_TriggerContinuous eTriggerType_TriggerSingle eTriggerType TriggerContinuous eTriggerType TriggerSingle Table 5 4 PDLA Enumerations Enumeration Values in VB 6 Values in NET ...

Page 154: ...nt occurs whenever a remote client connects to or disconnects from the PDLA A boolean pass parameter is set true on connection pdlaClient Connectivity IsConnected ConnectedDelegate EstimatedTestTime An estimate of how long the current test is going to take is sent at the beginning of each test The first parameter is the name as a string the second is the test time estimate in seconds Not available...

Page 155: ... the PDLA front panel and begins controlling the PDLA manually even though a remote process is connected force with pdlaClient Display ToggleRemoteIndicator RemotingDelegate SweepProgress This event occurs when a sweep is begun when it is complete and if it is aborted The pass parameter indicates which of the three states occurred Use pdlaClient Status TriggerComplete to detect end of sweep SweepP...

Page 156: ...t make measurements while the settling is in progress Status TLSSettling ProgressDelegate TriggerProgress This event occurs at the start and finish of most PDLA actions such as sweeping or normalization The pass parameters indicate what the current activity is and whether it has started completed or aborted Status TriggerComplete TriggerProgressDelegate Table 5 5 PDLA Events Event Description Equi...

Page 157: ... to open the project When you rerun the project your computer will resynchronize with the PDLA and usually the problem goes away at that point If the problem is severe the PDLA will post a message and undergo a clean up for a lost connection this will take approximately one minute If you are getting this problem frequently make sure that you always execute a disconnect for every connect even when ...

Page 158: ...Client Ports pdlaClient DispersionMode pdlaClient Measure pdlaClient TriggerModeParams Single pdlaClient MeasurementRange Event NewStatus pdlaClient Status StatusLog XStart pdlaClient pdlaClient System LaserState pdlaClient MeasurementRange XStop ToTLSSetting pdlaClient Status EstimatedTime Event TLSSettingProbability Status ValidNormalization ...

Page 159: ...dlaClient DispersionMode eDispersionMode_CD_PMD_Stepped 3 pdlaClient DispersionMode eDispersionMode_CD_Stepped 2 pdlaClient DispersionMode eDispersionMode_CD_PMD_Swept 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 5 pdlaClient NumPolStatesPMD eNumPolStatesPMD_eSix 6 pdlaClient GenerateMuellerAndPMDData False 7 pdlaClient UseExternalPowermeter True 8 pdlaClient DUTMinLossMaxGain eDUTLossGain_eGain_0dB ...

Page 160: ...ted Commands 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 pdlaClient Length Mode eLengthMode_Specify 2 pdlaClient Length SpecififiedLength eODAPort_One value 3 pdlaClient Length SpecififiedLength eODAPort_Two value 4 pdlaClient Length Mode eLengthMode_Measure 5 pdlaClient Length IndexOfRefraction value 6 pdlaClient Actions MeasureLength ...

Page 161: ...ilent 86038B Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer Second Edition 161 Figure 22 Measurement Range Related Commands 1 2 1 pdlaClient MeasurementRange XStart value 2 pdlaClient MeasurementRange XStop value ...

Page 162: ...6038B Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer Second Edition Figure 23 Port Selection Related Commands 1 pdlaClient Ports eODAPort_One 2 pdlaClient Ports eODAPort_Two 3 pdlaClient Ports eODAPort_One eODAPort_Two 1 2 3 ...

Page 163: ...ion Range Related Commands 1 pdlaClient NormalizationRange UseCustomNormalization False 2 pdlaClient NormalizationRange UseCustomNormalization True 3 pdlaClient NormalizationRange XStart value 4 pdlaClient NormalizationRange XStop value 5 pdlaClient NormalizationRange Increment value 1 2 3 4 5 ...

Page 164: ...ity and Resolution Related Commands 1 pdlaClient Resolution Increment value 2 pdlaClient Resolution RFModulationFrequency value 3 pdlaClient Sensitivity IFBandwidth eIFBandwidth_IFBW_70Hz 4 pdlaClient Sensitivity SamplesPerPoint value 5 pdlaClient Sensitivity DriftCorrection False 1 2 3 4 5 ...

Page 165: ...and Loss Analyzer Second Edition 165 Figure 26 Laser Setup Related Commands 2 pdlaClient TLS HighPowerLimit value 3 pdlaClient TLS PowerSelect eTLSPowerSelect_High 1 2 3 4 1 retVal pdlaClient TLS SelectTLS 0 4 pdlaClient TLS ForceSetting ...

Page 166: ...B Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer Second Edition Figure 27 Trigger Mode Related Commands 1 pdlaClient TriggerModeParams eTriggerType_TriggerSingle 2 pdlaClient TriggerModeParams eTriggerType_TriggerContinuous 2 1 ...

Page 167: ...rol Sequence on page 138 for the full recommended sequence For simplicity this application omits normalization but covers the rest of the steps This example is presented in three different languages VB6 0 VB NET and C Go through the version for the language you are most likely to use The source code is included with the Remote Control Installation Navigate down to C Program Files Agilent Agilent P...

Page 168: ...Properties If not click View Properties Window In the Properties dialog scroll down to choose Caption and then type ODA Name Press Enter and notice that PDLA Name appears on Form 1 4 From the tool bar click the Text Box icon then click and drag to create a box in the upper right of Form 1 In the Properties dialog click Name and type tbOdaName Click on Text and type the network name of your PDLA as...

Page 169: ...ly above End Sub Set pdlaClient New RemoteClient Communicator 10 Before you can talk to the PDLA you have to establish a link to it From the tool bar place a Button on the form From the Properties dialog Name the button pbConnect with Caption Connect Double click the button to edit the source code This will place you at pbConnect_Click The connection to the PDLA is established here Place the follo...

Page 170: ...is does not appear it is most likely because the PDLA Name is incorrect or the PDLA itself is not properly configured for networking check your LAN connection Go to the PDLA front panel and select Help About The name is on the About panel When you exit the program it will disconnect from the PDLA leaving it free for front panel or other remote use Event Handling Event handling is added to monitor ...

Page 171: ...wStatus 1 Add a display line to show user status messages Add a text label as wide as the form and call it lblStatus Default the caption to PDLA Status 2 Create the event function Go to the code window Click the object selector in the upper left corner of the window and select pdlaClient Now click the event method selector in the upper right corner of the display and select NewStatus This will tak...

Page 172: ... following lines to make sure you are connected before actually taking a measurement Don t do anything if not connected to PDLA If pdlaClient Connectivity IsConnected False Then MsgBox Can t take a measurement yet not connected Exit Sub End If pdlaClient Measure 3 Run the software click Connect and wait for the connection to complete Then click Take Sweep and watch the sweep progress on both the P...

Page 173: ...ch easier in Visual Basic Fill out the function so it looks like If eTriggerMode enumAcquisitionMode_eMeasurement Then If progress enumStatus_COMPLETE Then sendDataToFile c mydata txt End If End If 5 Add the sendDataToFile function This is a very simple implementation using text streams Insert this function immediately after pdlaClient_TriggerProgress Private Sub sendDataToFile ByVal fileName As S...

Page 174: ...Go to the PDLA front panel and click Local then take a sweep You will see the update messages appear on the application and the application will detect end of sweep and transfer the data 7 Exit the application when completed Control Center Wavelength This section shows how to control a simple parameter on the PDLA This example will use the center wavelength A text box is added for the user to ente...

Page 175: ...530 to 1540 nm Complete source code Option Explicit Declare the pdlaClient Private WithEvents pdlaClient As RemoteClient Communicator Private Sub Form_Load Instantiate the pdlaClient Set pdlaClient New RemoteClient Communicator End Sub Private Sub Form_Unload Cancel As Integer Disconnect from PDLA and clean up on our side pdlaClient Connectivity Disconnect pdlaClient Connectivity TerminateSession ...

Page 176: ...tput As outputFileNum Write outputFileNum Sample PDLA File written from VB 6 0 Write outputFileNum Now Write outputFileNum Wavelength nm Gain dB idx 0 For cnt LBound gainData To UBound gainData buf CStr xStart xStep idx CStr gainData cnt Write outputFileNum xStart xStep idx gainData cnt idx idx 1 Next Close outputFileNum End Sub Private Sub pbConnect_Click Connect to the PDLA Call pdlaClient Conne...

Page 177: ...rtWavel centerWavel CDbl txtCenter Text If centerWavel 1400 Or centerWavel 1700 Then MsgBox Wavelength out of range defaulted to 1550 centerWavel 1550 txtCenter Text 1550 End If pdlaClient MeasurementRange xStart centerWavel span 2 pdlaClient MeasurementRange xStop centerWavel span 2 Trigger the measurement pdlaClient Measure End Sub ...

Page 178: ...Refer to PDLA Help About to find your PDLA network name 4 From the main menu click Project Add Reference This brings up a dialog that defaults to the NET tab You will be adding the NET incarnation of the PDLA 5 Select Browse then navigate to C Program Files Agilent Agilent PDLA Remote Control 6 Click InstrumentObjects dll then ctrl click on RemoteClient dll you can add both at once Select Open whi...

Page 179: ...s out the Connect button so you do not forget and connect twice 9 Go to the code window and click the selector at the upper left corner of the code window It probably says Form1 Change it to say Base Class Events Now the selector at the upper left corner lists the various events we can write code for It probably says Declarations Click on the selections and choose Closing This will take you to For...

Page 180: ...o into the code window and click on the selector in the upper left corner it probably says Form1 now It presents a list of objects you have available Select the pdlaClient Now click on the selector in the upper right corner it probably says Declarations It presents a list of events you can choose to receive and write code for If the event is in light gray you have not implemented it yet If it is i...

Page 181: ... trigger a sweep from our application and when the sweep completes we will transfer the data across and save it in a file This consists of adding a button to trigger the sweep and adding an event handler for the TriggerProgress event so we can detect when the sweep is finished and save the data in C mydata txt 1 Add a button to the UI and name it pbSweep with a caption of Take Sweep 2 Double click...

Page 182: ...tellisense all the possible values of the enumeration and present you a list In this case we want eMeasurement Intellisense makes dealing with events and enumerated types much easier in visual basic Fill out the function so it looks like Only do something if this is a measurement If eTriggerMode Agilent LWD Ag86038x InstrumentObjects ODACommon enumAcquisitionMode eMea surement Then Only do somethi...

Page 183: ...weep Then look for c mydata txt You can look at it with a text editor or import it into a spreadsheet This program will grab data even if a sweep is triggered from the front panel Run the software and then connect Go to the PDLA front panel and click Local then take a sweep You will see the update messages appear on our application and the application will detect end of sweep and transfer the data...

Page 184: ... as 1530 to 1540 nm Complete Source Code Public Class Form1 Inherits System Windows Forms Form Private WithEvents pdlaClient As RemoteClient Communicator Windows form generated code omitted Private Sub Form1_Load ByVal sender As System Object ByVal e As System EventArgs Handles MyBase Load pdlaClient New RemoteClient Communicator End Sub Private Sub pbConnect_Click ByVal sender As System Object By...

Page 185: ...avel 1550 txtCenter Text 1550 End If pdlaClient MeasurementRange XStart centerWavel span 2 pdlaClient MeasurementRange XStop centerWavel span 2 Now trigger the measurement pdlaClient Measure End Sub Private Sub pdlaClient_TriggerProgress ByVal progress As Agilent LWD Ag86038x InstrumentObjects ODACommon enumStatus ByVal eTriggerMode As Agilent LWD Ag86038x InstrumentObjects ODACommon enumAcquisiti...

Page 186: ... XStart Agilent LWD Ag86038x InstrumentObjects ODACommon eM easurementType Gain xStop pdlaClient Results XStop Agilent LWD Ag86038x InstrumentObjects ODACommon eM easurementType Gain xStep xStop xStart npoin 1 Open the file and write the data Dim file As System IO StreamWriter file New System IO StreamWriter fileName file WriteLine Sample PDLA File written from Visual Basic net file WriteLine Wave...

Page 187: ...ou will be adding the NET incarnation of the PDLA Select Browse then navigate to C Program Files Agilent Agilent PDLA Remote Control Click on InstrumentObjects dll then ctrl click on RemoteClient dll you can add both at once Click Open which brings you back to the References dialog You will see the two dll s in the Selected Components pane Click OK and InstrumentObjects and RemoteClient will appea...

Page 188: ...established Place the following lines inside the curly braces pdlaClient Connectivity Connect tbPdlaName Text pbConnect Enabled false You need to implement a disconnect method since whenever you connect you need to disconnect when you are done This avoids a time consuming clean up when a connection goes stale and has to be clean out of the PDLA interface The second line grays out the Connect butto...

Page 189: ...t the PDLA will call as many methods as you care to register it just keeps a list of functions to call and runs through that list when the event occurs Implementing events is a little more complicated because Microsoft chose to use the Delegate mechanism as an abstraction layer between the event source the PDLA and the event consumer your code So instead of passing a reference to your function to ...

Page 190: ...pecting a function that accepts a string and an eEventLogType Note that the fully qualified eEventLogType is Agilent LWD Ag86038x InstrumentObjects ODACommon eEvent LogType To see the values defined in the enumeration find the InstrumentObjects object in the left hand pane of the object browser Expand that entry and find Agilent LWD Ag86038x InstrumentObjects and expand that Scan down the resultan...

Page 191: ... The steps below walk you through adding the appropriate declarations to create the delegate and register our event handler 1 Add a display line to show a user status messages Add a text label as wide as the form and call it lblStatus Default the text to PDLA Status 2 Go to the code window and find where you declared the pdlaClient Add the declaration of a local copy of the delegate here Declare e...

Page 192: ...e you will trigger a sweep from the application and when the sweep completes transfer the data across and save it in a file This consists of adding a button to trigger the sweep adding an event handler for the TriggerProgress event to detect when the sweep is finished and saving the data in C mydata txt 1 Add a button to the UI and name it pbSweep caption Take Sweep 2 Double click the button to go...

Page 193: ...andler find the line where you this NewStatusHandler and add the following line pdlaClient TriggerProgress this TriggerHandler 5 Create the event function In this function you have to check the enumAcquisitionMode to see if the trigger has to do with a measurement could be a normalization and then check the enumStatus to see if the measurement is finished indicating data is available If so call se...

Page 194: ...amWriter fileName false file WriteLine Sample PDLA File file WriteLine Wavelength nm Gain dB Write the data for cnt 0 cnt npoin cnt x xStart cnt xStep buf x ToString gainData cnt ToString file WriteLine buf Close the file file Close 7 Run the software connect and take a sweep Look for c mydata txt You can look at it with a text editor or import it into a spreadsheet Tip This program will grab data...

Page 195: ...avel oldSpan centerWavel double Parse txtCenter Text if centerWavel 0 centerWavel 1700 MessageBox Show Center Wavelength out of range defaulted to 1550 nm centerWavel 1550 txtCenter Text centerWavel ToString Convert center to start stop startWavel pdlaClient MeasurementRange XStart stopWavel pdlaClient MeasurementRange XStop oldSpan stopWavel startWavel Write new start and stop pdlaClient Measurem...

Page 196: ...weep private System Windows Forms Button pbConnect private System Windows Forms TextBox txtCenter private System Windows Forms Label label2 summary Required designer variable summary private System ComponentModel Container components null public Form1 Required for Windows Form Designer support InitializeComponent TODO Add any constructor code after InitializeComponent call summary Clean up any res...

Page 197: ...de eMeasurement Instrument is making a measurement if status ODACommon enumStatus COMPLETE The measurement is done transfer data sendDataToFile c mydata txt private void sendDataToFile string fileName Transfer the gain data over from the PDLA and save it to a file double gainData double xStart double xStop double xStep int npoin string buf int cnt double x Get the gain data from port one gainData ...

Page 198: ...iggerProgress this TriggerHandler Shut down the object pdlaClient Connectivity TerminateSession private void pbConnect_Click object sender System EventArgs e Instantiate the pdlaClient pdlaClient new RemoteClient Communicator Connect to the PDLA pdlaClient Connectivity Connect tbPdlaName Text Create our event handlers this NewStatusHandler new ODARemoting NewStatusDelegate this NewStatusEvent this...

Page 199: ...ter Text if centerWavel 0 centerWavel 1700 MessageBox Show Center Wavelength out of range defaulted to 1550 nm centerWavel 1550 txtCenter Text centerWavel ToString Convert center to start stop startWavel pdlaClient MeasurementRange XStart stopWavel pdlaClient MeasurementRange XStop oldSpan stopWavel startWavel Write new start and stop pdlaClient MeasurementRange XStart centerWavel oldSpan 2 pdlaCl...

Page 200: ... Delete Delete last chart End If Open session m_PDLARemoteControl Connectivity Connect PDLA_ID_Box Value Wait for PDLA connection to come alive DoEvents Application Wait Now TimeValue 0 00 01 DoEvents While m_PDLARemoteControl Connectivity IsConnected False Application Wait Now TimeValue 0 00 01 DoEvents Wend Read x axis info Dim XStart As Double Dim xinc As Double Dim XData As Double XStart m_PDL...

Page 201: ...LinesNoMarkers ActiveChart Location Where xlLocationAsObject Name Sheet1 With ActiveChart Get rid of time data as a plotted series SeriesCollection 1 Delete Specify the X axis for the other two series SeriesCollection 1 XValues Range Sheet1 Cells 10 1 Sheet1 Cells 9 npoin 1 SeriesCollection 2 XValues Range Sheet1 Cells 10 1 Sheet1 Cells 9 npoin 1 set title HasTitle True ChartTitle Characters Text ...

Page 202: ...202 Agilent 86038B Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer Second Edition End Sub ...

Page 203: ...ts a graph ODAclose vi This should be the last vi used to close the session with the PDLA ODAdata vi This vi transfers data from the PDLA into LabView ODAset1_stepped vi This vi contains all the settings for making a stepped gain and CD measurement ODAset2_swept vi This vi contains all the settings for making a swept gain and CD measurement ODAsweep vi This vi triggers a sweep and waits for it to ...

Page 204: ...DLA then run the executable on your own computer You key in how many times you would like the measurement made and at what interval and the program triggers the measurements and records the data on your computer 1 Set up the desired measurement on the PDLA performing the required normalization 2 Go to the PDLA Help About menu to obtain the PDLA computer name Type that name into the PDLA Name field...

Page 205: ...cal computer You will get one file for every measurement with Wavelength Gain Group Delay and Chromatic Dispersion The file name is noted at the bottom of the Collection frame You will also get a single ODA_stats file with the statistics for the Gain and Group Delay The program will use as short a file name as it can For data files it uses ODA_ date _g001_m001 csv where g is followed by the group ...

Page 206: ...ent This information is also stored at the end of the run in the ODA_stats file Just below the Statistics are is the Status area The blue bar is used to show the timer between PDLA measurements During the measurement itself the blue bar is full and the Status area reflects what the PDLA is doing 7 Install the NET Framework from Microsoft Refer to Install the Remote Client on page 141 8 Install the...

Page 207: ...Agilent 86038B Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer Second Edition 207 Processing the measured data into statistics and writing data to the file Updating the PDLA status ...

Page 208: ...ery 150 ms updates progress bar decides if it is time to take data startMeasurement triggers the PDLA to make the measurement The TriggerProgress event communicates when the sweep is finished and provides a chance to process the measured data Key variables groupIdx Current group starting with 1 measIDx Current measurement starting with 1 numGroups Number of user requested groups numMeas Number of ...

Page 209: ... holds the date string required to make the name unique If there are no files in the save directory groupID will be blank The groupID is made progressively more specific adding date then time if needed The statistics are accumulated in statistics structures called a statsBlock There are two forms of the statistics provided the absolute values and the differential from the first sweep Variables tha...

Page 210: ...ously from any measurement operation Every 500 ms StatusTimer wakes up and queries the PDLA to find out what it is doing This is handled in StatusTimer_Timer In addition whenever a new status message appears on the PDLA front panel the NewStatus event handler pdlaClient_NewStatus reads the message and displays it for the remote user as well ...

Page 211: ...mmands 228 Analysis CurveFit Commands 231 Connectivity Commands 235 Display Commands 237 File Commands 240 Length Commands 243 MeasurementRange Commands 247 NormalizationRange Commands 249 Increment Property 253 Printing Commands 255 Printing Commands 255 Resolution Commands 256 Results Commands 260 Sensitivity Commands 264 Status Commands 267 System Commands 272 System Identity Commands 275 TLS C...

Page 212: ...LA Remote Control DLLs The PDLARemoteControl DLLs provide a communication link with the PDLA application The DLLs are comprised of a set of Properties Methods and Events that together provide a basic set of remote PDLA capabilities The two DLLs of interest are remoteClient dll and InstrumentObjects dll By default these two DLLs are installed to C Program Files Agilent Agilent PDLA Remote Control N...

Page 213: ... the Connectivity object you must wait for this event to return a true before sending commands to the PDLA If you receive this event after your connection has been established and the value is false you need to re establish your connection Parameters connected True Connected to the PDLA Related Commands Connectivity Connect method Connectivity Disconnect method Connectivity TerminateSession method...

Page 214: ...t mode measurement eAcquisitionMode Indicates data is for a measurement normalization or length measurement Related Commands Actions Measure method Actions Normalize method Actions MeasureLength method NewRealTimePortMonitorData ByVal DUTPortInsertionLoss As Double ByVal MonitorPortInsertionLoss As Double ByVal DUTPortGroupDelay As Double ByVal MonitorPortGroupDelay As Double Indicates that a new ...

Page 215: ...formational or error Related Command Status StatusLog method PresetProgress ByVal progress As enumStatus Indicates that the PDLA has started completed a preset or initialization Parameters Progress Indicates that the preset initialization has started or completed Related Command System Preset method Remoting ByVal Remoting As Boolean Indicates that the PDLA is under local or remote control If you ...

Page 216: ...tion Measurement ModBias DriftMonitor Length TLSSettlingProbability ByVal dTimeRemaining As Double ByVal eProbability As enumTLSSettlingProbability Indicates the estimated time until the next laser settling begins The PDLA relies on the tunable laser to provide high resolution and dynamic range The laser has a mechanically tuned cavity that is sensitive to temperature change requiring the laser to...

Page 217: ...ates TLS Settling has begun or completed Related Command TLS ForceSettling method TriggerProgress ByVal progress As enumStatus ByVal eTriggerMode As enumAcquisitionMode Indicates a trigger has begun has been aborted or has been completed Some actions such as normalization may include several sweeps This event is provided to tell you when the entire action is complete In general this event is more ...

Page 218: ...h the 86038B PDLA using either a NET or COM interface The commands listed in the following section assume an instance of the remote client has been created using the following VB NET commands Public WithEvents pdlaClient As RemoteClient Communicator pdlaClient New RemoteClient Communicator Examples shown with each command are presented in VB NET and VB 6 0 ...

Page 219: ...eLength Method 228 Normalize Method 229 PrintScreen Method 229 Analysis CurveFit Commands 231 Calculate Method 231 Catalog Property 232 Description Method 232 ShortName Method 233 Connectivity Commands 235 Connect Method 235 Disconnect Method 235 IsConnected Method 236 TerminateSession Method 236 Display Commands 237 AutoscaleDuringMeasurement Method 237 DefineTrace Method 237 GDOffsetMode Propert...

Page 220: ...rty 253 ValidIncrement Method 253 Printing Commands 255 Printing Commands 255 PrintScreen Method 255 Resolution Commands 256 RFModulationFrequency Property 256 ValidRFModulationFrequency Method 256 Increment Property 257 ValidIncrement Method 258 ValidTracePoints Method 258 Results Commands 260 FiberLength Method 260 Increment Property 260 XStart Method 261 XStop Method 261 XValueFromPointIndex Me...

Page 221: ...erty 273 SetPort Method 273 RealtimePortMonitor Method 274 System Identity Commands 275 CompanyName Property 275 ProductId Property 275 ProductName Property 275 ProductVersion Property 276 RemotingVersion Property 276 TLS Commands 278 ForceSettling Method 278 PowerSelect Property 278 MultiTlsSupport Method 279 SelectTls Method 279 TlsWvlRange Method 280 TlsWvlRangeString Method 281 SelectedTLSIdx ...

Page 222: ...nstrumentObjects ODACommon eDispersionMode CD_Swept VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient DispersionMode eDispersionMode_CD_Swept NumPolStatesPMD Property Read the value of this property to find out what number of polarization states is used for PMD and PDL measurements or to set the value of this property for the number of pol states to be used for future PMD and PDL measurements Property Value InstrumentObje...

Page 223: ...T Syntax Dim PWMFound As Boolean PWMFound pdlaClient ExternalPowermeterFound VB 6 0 Syntax Dim PWMFound As Boolean PWMFound pdlaClient ExternalPowermeterFound UseExternalPowermeter Property This property defines if external power meters should be used for IL and PDL data If no external power meters have been found in the current setup the value of this property is ignored Also see the ExternalPowe...

Page 224: ...bjects ODACommon eDUTLossGain VB NET Syntax pdlaClient DUTMinLossMaxGain InstrumentObjects ODACommon eDUTLossGain eGain_M20dB VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient DUTMinLossMaxGain eDUTLossGain_eGain_M20dB GenerateMuellerAndPMDData Property Use this property to control the generation of Mueller matrix and PMD vector data for export Generation of this data results in larger oda files when storing measurement r...

Page 225: ... Measure Ports Property Read the value of this property to find out which port or ports are enabled or set the value of this property to select the active port or ports This is equivalent to pressing Ports on the front panel Property Value InstrumentObjects ODACommon eODAPort VB NET Syntax pdlaClient Ports InstrumentObjects ODACommon eODAPort One _ InstrumentObjects ODACommon eODAPort Two VB 6 0 S...

Page 226: ...eVB NET Syntax pdlaClient TriggerModeParams _InstrumentObjects ODACommon eTriggerType TriggerSingle VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient TriggerModeParams eTriggerType_TriggerSingle AutoCancelAfterBadSweeps Property This property controls the behavior of the PDLA system in case of problems during a measurement sweep If the value of this property is True the system stops the current measurement if it detects p...

Page 227: ...Agilent 86038B Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer Second Edition 227 VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient AutoCancelAfterBadSweeps True ...

Page 228: ...laClient Actions Abort VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient Actions Abort Measure Method Starts a new measurement This method corresponds to the Begin Meas key on the front panel Use this method to start a measurement after you have set the measurement parameters and then watch the TriggerProgress event for completion VB NET Syntax pdlaClient Actions Measure VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient Actions Measure MeasureLen...

Page 229: ...eNorm alization If NormMode eModBias then only an optical modulator optimization is done during normalization If NormMode eOptPolarizer then only the input polarizer is optimized during normalization If NormMode eNormalization then a complete Normalization measurement is done VB NET Syntax pdlaClient Actions Normalize InstrumentObjects ODACommon enumAcquisitionMode eNormalization VB 6 0 Syntax pdl...

Page 230: ...230 Agilent 86038B Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer Second Edition VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient Actions PrintScreen ...

Page 231: ...e fit names can be retrieved via the Catalog command ByVal XStartPoint As Double The start wavelength of the input data ByVal XIncrement As Double The wavelength spacing between points of the input data ByRef InputActualData As Double The data to apply the curve fit to ByRef GeneralForm As String The general form of the equation for the specified curve fit ByRef Equation As String The actual equat...

Page 232: ...Fit Catalog VB 6 0 Syntax Dim MyCat As String MyCat pdlaClient Analysis CurveFit Catalog Description Method Returns one of the following descriptions corresponding to the passed in short curve fit name Linear calculates a single parameter least squares fit The equation is in the form y Ax B It is commonly used for dispersion shifted fiber in which waveguide dispersion is dominant Quadratic calcula...

Page 233: ...liarity of the five term Sellmeier fit zero dispersion wavelengths found outside of the measurement range may not correspond to actual zero dispersion wavelengths of the device under test The equation is in the form Ax4 Bx2 C Dx 2 Ex 4 Parameters ByVal CurveFitName As String The short name of the curve fit A list of the curve fit names can be retrieved via the Catalog command Returns String Contai...

Page 234: ...dition Returns String Contains the short name of the curve fit for example quadratic VB NET Syntax Dim eqName As String eqName pdlaClient Analysis CurveFit ShortName Quadratic VB 6 0 Syntax Dim eqName As String eqName pdlaClient Analysis CurveFit ShortName Quadratic ...

Page 235: ...til the connected event returns true before sending commands You can also use the IP address of the PDLA in string form For example xxx xxx xxx xxx An error will be raised if the Connect method is called on a remote client that is already connected Parameters ByVal serverMachineName As String The network name of the PDLA VB Net Syntax pdlaClient Connectivity Connect MYPDLA VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient...

Page 236: ...lean True is connected VB NET Syntax If pdlaClient Connectivity IsConnected True Then MsgBox Connected End If VB 6 0 Syntax If pdlaClient Connectivity IsConnected True Then MsgBox Connected End If TerminateSession Method This method unregisters the communicator channel to the PDLA TerminateSession should be called when remoting to the PDLA has been concluded VB NET Syntax pdlaClient Connectivity T...

Page 237: ...bled As Boolean True turns on auto scaling Related Command Resolution Increment property VB NET Syntax pdlaClient Display AutoscaleDuringMeasurement True VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient Display AutoscaleDuringMeasurement True DefineTrace Method Assigns a measurement on a specified port to a specific trace on the graph Up to two measurements can be assigned to each of the four graphs Parameters ByVal grap...

Page 238: ... _ eMeasurementType_GD GDOffsetMode Property The PDLA normally sets the group delay at the center trace point to zero Writing a value to this property can change the point that is zeroed to the minimum or maximum of the trace Reading the value of the property returns the current setting Property Value InstrumentObjects ODASensitivity eGDOffsetMode VB NET Syntax pdlaClient Display GDOffsetMode _ In...

Page 239: ..._Graph VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient Display ToggleMode eLayoutMode_QUAD_Graph ToggleRemoteIndicator Method Use this method to return the PDLA to local control This is equivalent to pressing the front panel Local key To put the PDLA in local mode call this method with a value of False Parameters ByVal remote As Boolean True sets the PDLA UI to remote mode False sets the PDLA UI to local mode VB NET Syn...

Page 240: ...Parameters ByVal filename As String Full filename and path of the export file The file will be saved on the PDLA system itself VB NET Syntax pdlaClient File ExportCSV D Data MyExport csv VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient File ExportCSV D Data MyExport csv ExportMuellerPMD Method Saves the PMD vector data and the first row of the Mueller matrix of the measured device These data is only available if the appr...

Page 241: ...exist on the PDLA Also an existing file with the same name will be overwritten Parameters ByVal filename As String Full filename and path of the export file The file will be saved on the PDLA system itself If the name does not contain the log extension it is automatically appended VB NET Syntax pdlaClient File ExportStatusLog D Data MyExport log VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient File ExportStatusLog D Data...

Page 242: ...th a pdla extension When this file is recalled using the Recall method all the setup parameters will be set to the saved conditions An error will be raised if the specified path does not exist on the PDLA Also any existing file by the same name will be overwritten Parameters ByVal filename As String Full filename and path of the PDLA file The file will be saved on the PDLA system itself VB NET Syn...

Page 243: ...ments and a user defined refractive index value This feature is intended for fiber and cable test applications Property Value Double Related Command Length ValidIndexOfRefraction method VB NET Syntax pdlaClient Length IndexOfRefraction 1 50 VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient Length IndexOfRefraction 1 50 Mode Property Determines if the PDLA should use the user specified value for length or the measured valu...

Page 244: ...icients Parameters ByVal port As InstrumentObject ODACommon eODAPort Property Value Double Related Command Length ValidSpecifiedLength method VB NET Syntax pdlaClient Length SpecifiedLength InstrumentObject ODACom mon eODAPort One 3 8 VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient Length SpecifiedLength InstrumentObject ODACom mon eODAPort_One 3 8 ValidIndexOfRefraction Method Returns valid minimum maximum and default ...

Page 245: ...As Double Dim maxN As Double Dim defaultN As Double Call pdlaClient Length ValidIndexOfRefraction minN maxN defaultN ValidSpecifiedLength Method Returns valid minimum maximum and default values for the specified length of a fiber optic cable Parameters ByRef Minimum As Double holds minimum specified length in meters ByRef Maximum As Double holds maximum specified length in meters ByRef DefaultValu...

Page 246: ...tax Dim minLEN As Double Dim maxLEN As Double Dim defaultLEN As Double pdlaClient Length ValidSpecifiedLength minLEN maxLEN defaultLEN VB 6 0 Syntax Dim minLEN As Double Dim maxLEN As Double Dim defaultLEN As Double Call pdlaClient Length ValidSpecifiedLength minLEN maxLEN defaultLEN ...

Page 247: ...arameters ByRef Minimum As Double minimum wavelength accepted in nm ByRef Maximum As Double maximum wavelength accepted in nm Related Command MeasurementRange XStart property MeasurementRange XStop property VB NET Syntax Dim minWL As Double Dim maxWL As Double pdlaClient MeasurementRange ValidStartStop minWL maxWL VB 6 0 Syntax Dim minWL As Double Dim maxWL As Double Call pdlaClient MeasurementRan...

Page 248: ...nt MeasurementRange XStart pdlaClient Measurement _ Range XStart myStart 1 0 XStop Property Sets and reads the stop wavelength for the next measurement Property Value Double The stop wavelength in nanometers Related Command MeasurementRange ValidStartStop method VB NET Syntax Dim myStop As Double myStop pdlaClient MeasurementRange XStop pdlaClient Measurement _ Range XStop myStop 1 0 VB 6 0 Syntax...

Page 249: ...sertionLossOffsets Method Clears the GD and Insertion loss offsets for the specified port Parameters By Val PortNum As InstrumentObjects ODACommon eODAPort The port on which to clear GD and Gain Loss normalization data VB NET Syntax pdlaClient NormalizationRange ClearGDAndInsertionLossOffse ts _ InstrumentObjects ODACommon eODAPort One VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient NormalizationRange ClearGDAndInsertio...

Page 250: ...t normalization measurement After clearing the input polarizer angle no measurements can be made until an input polarizer optimization is performed VB NET Syntax pdlaClient NormalizationRange ClearInputPolarizerAngle VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient NormalizationRange ClearInputPolarizerAngle PDAEnabled Property Phase dynamic accuracy corrects for amplitude to phase conversion effects in the instrument re...

Page 251: ...True tells the PDLA to use the NormalizationRange settings False tells the PDLA to use Measurement settings VB NET Syntax pdlaClient NormalizationRange UseCustomNormalization True VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient NormalizationRange UseCustomNormalization True ValidStartStop Method Returns valid minimum and maximum wavelength values for normalization in nm Parameters ByRef Minimum As Double The smallest va...

Page 252: ...n Property Value Double The start wavelength in nanometers Related Command NormalizationRange XStop property VB NET Syntax pdlaClient NormalizationRange UseCustomNormalization True pdlaClient NormalizationRange XStart 1550 0 VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient NormalizationRange UseCustomNormalization True pdlaClient NormalizationRange XStart 1550 0 XStop Property Sets and reads the stop wavelength for the n...

Page 253: ... separation between adjacent measurement wavelengths Property Value Double The wavelength spacing between points in nanometers Related Command NormalizationRange ValidIncrement method VB NET Syntax pdlaClient NormalizationRange Increment 0 5 VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient NormalizationRange Increment 0 5 ValidIncrement Method Returns valid minimum maximum and default values for the increment in nanomete...

Page 254: ...mmand NormalizationRange Increment property VB NET Syntax Dim minXinc As Double Dim maxXinc As double Dim defXinc As Double pdlaClient NormalizationRange ValidIncrement _ minXinc maxXinc defXinc VB 6 0 Syntax Dim minXinc As Double Dim maxXinc As double Dim defXinc As Double Call pdlaClient NormalizationRange ValidIncrement _ minXinc maxXinc defXinc ...

Page 255: ...t returns an object which allows the graphical display to be printed PrintScreen Method Prints a copy of the graphical display and pertinent instrument settings to the default printer This method is equivalent to pressing the front panel Print key VB NET Syntax pdlaClient Printing PrintScreen VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient Printing PrintScreen ...

Page 256: ...quency maximizes wavelength resolution Property Value Double RF Modulation Frequency in MHz Related Command Resolution ValidRFModulationFrequency method VB NET Syntax pdlaClient Resolution RFModulationFrequency 2000 VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient Resolution RFModulationFrequency 2000 ValidRFModulationFrequency Method Returns valid minimum maximum and default RF modulation frequency values for the measur...

Page 257: ...Syntax Dim Min As Double Dim Max As Double Dim Default As Double Call pdlaClient Resolution ValidRFModulationFrequency Min Max Default Increment Property Specifies the separation between adjacent measurement wavelengths Property Value Double The wavelength spacing between points in nanometers Related Command Resolution ValidIncrement method Resolution ValidTracePoints method VB NET Syntax pdlaClie...

Page 258: ...t X axis increment is returned Related Command Resolution Increment property Resolution ValidTracePoints method VB NET Syntax Dim minXinc As Double Dim maxXinc As double Dim defXinc As Double pdlaClient Resolution ValidIncrement minXinc maxXinc defXinc VB 6 0 Syntax Dim minXinc As Double Dim maxXinc As double Dim defXinc As Double Call pdlaClient Resolution ValidIncrement _ minXinc maxXinc defXinc...

Page 259: ...nts is returned Related Command Resolution Increment property Resolution ValidIncrement method VB NET Syntax Dim MinXtrc As Double Dim MaxXtrc As Double pdlaClient Resolution ValidTracePoints MinXtrc MaxXtrc VB 6 0 Syntax Dim MinXtrc As Double Dim MaxXtrc As Double Call pdlaClient Resolution ValidTracePoints MinXtrc MaxXtrc ...

Page 260: ...asurement type ByVal PortNum As InstrumentObjects ODACommon eODAPort The port number Returns Double Returns the fiber length VB NET Syntax Dim Length As Double Length pdlaClient Results FiberLength _ InstrumentObjects ODACommon eMeasNormDataType Measur ement _ InstrumentObjects ODACommon eODAPort One VB 6 0 Syntax Dim Length As Double Length pdlaClient Results FiberLength _ eMeasNormDataType_Measu...

Page 261: ...nherent derivative to calculate dispersion the dispersion XStart differs from the GD and Gain XStart by one half of an increment Returns Double The start wavelength for the last measurement in nanometers VB NET Syntax Dim sVal As Double sval pdlaClient Results XStart _ InstrumentObjects ODACommon eMeasurementType Gain VB 6 0 Syntax Dim sVal As Double sval pdlaClient Results XStart eMeasurementType...

Page 262: ...surementType As InstrumentObjects ODACommon eMeasurementType ByVal PointIndex As Integer Returns Double Returns the wavelength of the point index passed to the method VB NET Syntax Dim xVal As Double xVal pdlaClient Results XValueFromPointIndex _ InstrumentObjects ODACommon eMeasurementType Gain 2 VB 6 0 Syntax Dim xVal as Double xVal pdlaClient Results XValueFromPointIndex _ eMeasurementType_Gain...

Page 263: ... ByVal PortNum As InstrumentObjects ODACommon eODAPort Port number to retrieve the data Returns Double The raw data array VB NET Syntax Dim rawData As Double rawData pdlaClient Results YData _ InstrumentObjects ODACommon eMeasurementType Gain _ InstrumentObjects ODACommon eODAPort One VB 6 0 Syntax Dim rawData As Double rawData pdlaClient Results YData eMeasurementType_Gain _ eODAPort_One ...

Page 264: ...r the test path can generate rapid small group delay changes Reduce this type of error by covering the test path to block air currents Turning this function on will approximately double your test time for stepped measurements Property Value Boolean True if enabled VB NET Syntax If pdlaClient Sensitivity DriftCorrection False Then pdlaClient Sensitivity DriftCorrection True End If VB 6 0 Syntax If ...

Page 265: ...ally as the wavelength is swept As a result the wavelength resolution of the measurement is limited by wavelength range number of points per sweep 1 Note that wavelength resolution is also affected by the modulation frequency In Stepped measurement mode you select how many samples to take at each measurement wavelength The multiple samples are averaged to generate a single trace point A larger num...

Page 266: ...per point is returned ByRef DefaultValue As Integer Default Samples per point for the PDLA Related Command Sensitivity SamplesPerPoint property VB NET Syntax Dim minSamples As Integer Dim maxSamples As Integer Dim defSamples As Integer pdlaClient Sensitivity ValidSamplesPerPoint _ minSamples maxSamples defSamples VB 6 0 Syntax Dim minSamples As Integer Dim maxSamples As Integer Dim defSamples As I...

Page 267: ...oTLSSettling Property Indicates the estimated time until the next TLSSettling begins The PDLA relies on the tunable laser to provide high resolution and dynamic range The laser has a mechanically tuned cavity that is sensitive to temperature change requiring the laser to track the internal temperature and occasionally perform an adjustment Under normal temperature conditions this value may show 12...

Page 268: ... VB NET Syntax Dim curStatus As InstrumentObjects ODACommon eInstrumentStatus curStatus pdlaClient Status InstrumenState VB 6 0 Syntax Dim curStatus as InstrumentObjects eInstrumentStatus curStatus pdlaClient Status InstrumentState LastError Property Returns a string describing the error Reading the LastError automatically sets the property back to an empty string Property Value String A descripti...

Page 269: ...n PreComplete pdlaClient Status PresetComplete StatusLog Method Returns an array of status log entries that appear as messages within the status log on the PDLA user interface Returns InstrumentObjects RemoteStatusEntry An array of entries containing the status log information VB NET Syntax Dim ctr As Integer Dim entries As InstrumentObjects RemoteStatusEntry entries pdlaClient Status StatusLog Fo...

Page 270: ...e Boolean True if the TLSSettling is in progress Related Command TLS ForceSettling method VB NET Syntax Dim TLSIsSettling As Boolean TLSIsSettling pdlaClient Status TLSSettling VB 6 0 Syntax Dim TLSIsSettling As Boolean TLSIsSettling pdlaClient Status TLSSettling TriggerComplete Property Sets the value to True when the trigger is complete Property Value Boolean True when the last Measurement or No...

Page 271: ...on Property Sets the value to True when the PDLA settings fall within the current normalization boundaries Read Only Property Boolean True when current PDLA settings fall within the current normalization boundaries VB NET Syntax Dim ValNorm As Boolean ValNorm pdlaClient Status ValidNormalization VB 6 0 Syntax Dim ValNorm As Boolean ValNorm pdlaClient Status ValidNormalization ...

Page 272: ...stem LaserState _ Instrument Objects ODACommon enumOnOff eOn VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient System LaserState enumOnOff_eOn PowerMeterZero Method Causes the external power meters if installed to perform the zero function VB NET Syntax pdlaClient System PowerMeterZero VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient System PowerMeterZero Preset Method Sets the instrument to defined setup conditions Preset can only be called whe...

Page 273: ...em WavelengthRealtime VB 6 0 syntax Dim realtimeWvl as Double realtimeWvl pdlaClient System WavelengthRealtime SetPort Method Activates the port for the RealtimePortMonitor measurement Set the port prior to calling RealtimePortMonitor If the setup does not support multiport measurements select port One Parameters eODAPort The port to measure only single ports are allowed VB Net Syntax pdlaClient S...

Page 274: ...ePortMonitor Method Starts a realtime monitor measurement at the specified wavelength and at the specified port The data are transferred by the NewRealTimePortMonitorData Event VB Net Syntax pdlaClient System RealtimePortMonitor VB 6 0 syntax pdlaClient System RealtimePortMonitor ...

Page 275: ...mpName As String CompName pdlaClient System Identity CompanyName VB 6 0 Syntax Dim CompName As String CompName pdlaClient System Identity CompanyName ProductId Property Returns the product number 86038B Property Value String Product number VB NET Syntax Dim ProdID As String ProdID pdlaClient System Identity ProductID VB 6 0 Syntax Dim ProdID As String ProdID pdlaClient System Identity ProductID Pr...

Page 276: ...e remote client and the PDLA system should match Property Value String Software version of PDLA system software VB NET Syntax Dim ProdVersion As String ProdVersion pdlaClient System Identity ProductVersion VB 6 0 Syntax Dim ProdVersion As String ProdVersion pdlaClient System Identity ProductVersion RemotingVersion Property Returns the software version number of the remoting software The major and ...

Page 277: ...ersion and Loss Analyzer Second Edition 277 VB NET Syntax Dim RemVersion As String RemVersion pdlaClient System Identity RemotingVersion VB 6 0 Syntax Dim RemVersion As String RemVersion pdlaClient System Identity RemotingVersion ...

Page 278: ...tus TLSSettling property VB NET Syntax pdlaClient TLS ForceSettling VB 6 0 Syntax pdlaClient TLS ForceSettling PowerSelect Property The setting of this property tells the PDLA which optical output of the laser source is to be used for measurements Make sure that the specified output is the one which is also optically connected to the PDLA system Property Value InstrumentObjects ODATLS eTLSPowerSel...

Page 279: ...itch is returned If switchable False the number of tunable lasers is returned VB NET Syntax Dim numTLS As Integer numTLS pdlaClient TLS MultiTlsSupport True VB 6 0 Syntax Dim numTLS As Integer numTLS pdlaClient TLS MultiTlsSupport True SelectTls Method Use this method to select the laser source for the next measurement Returns Boolean True if everything worked well False if idx is invalid Paramete...

Page 280: ...s Parameters ByVal idx As Integer The zero based index of the tunable laser for which the wavelengths are queried ByRef minWvl As Double Holds the minimum wavelength of the tunable laser in nm ByRef maxWvl As Double Holds the maximum wavelength of the tunable laser in nm VB NET Syntax Dim retVal As Boolean Dim minWvl As Double Dim maxWvl As Double retVal pdlaClient TLS TlsWvlRange 0 minWvl maxWvl ...

Page 281: ...ngths are queried ByRef exists As Boolean True if a tunable laser source with the specified index exists VB NET Syntax Dim exists As Boolean Dim wvlString As String wvlString pdlaClient TLS TlsWvlRangeString 0 exists VB 6 0 Syntax Dim exists As Boolean Dim wvlString As String wvlString pdlaClient TLS TlsWvlRangeString 0 exists SelectedTLSIdx Method This method returns the index of the currently se...

Page 282: ...e tunable laser source Parameters ByVal idx As Integer The zero based index of the tunable laser for which the identifier is queried ByRef exists As Boolean True if a tunable laser source with the specified index exists VB NET Syntax Dim exists As Boolean Dim idn As String idn pdlaClient TLS TlsIdn 0 exists VB 6 0 Syntax Dim exists As Boolean Dim idn As String idn pdlaClient TLS TlsIdn 0 exists Tl...

Page 283: ...0 exists VB 6 0 Syntax Dim exists As Boolean Dim prodnumber As String prodnumber pdlaClient TLS TlsPn 0 exists TlsSn Method This method returns the serial number of the tunable laser source as a string Returns String the serial number of the tunable laser source Parameters ByVal idx As Integer The zero based index of the tunable laser for which the serial number is queried ByRef exists As Boolean ...

Page 284: ...mber pdlaClient TLS TlsSn 0 exists HighPowerLimit Property Gets or sets the upper limit of the TLS output power used for any measurement Property Value Double the TLS output power in dBm VB NET Syntax Dim PowerLimit as Double PowerLimit pdlaClient TLS HighPowerLimt VB 6 0 Syntax Dim PowerLimit as Double PowerLimit pdlaClient TLS HighPowerLimt ...

Page 285: ... 287 Troubleshooting GPIB Communications Problems 289 Troubleshooting Problems with Remote Programming 293 Troubleshooting Sweep and Normalization Problems 294 Troubleshooting Incorrect Data 297 Troubleshooting the TLS 299 Software Upgrade Procedure 301 Hard Drive Backup and Recovery 302 Cleaning Information 304 Returning the Instrument for Service 326 ...

Page 286: ... the PDLA computer system and hardware It then explains how to solve some common measurement problems The rest of the chapter covers other important customer support information Please note that the following acronyms are used PDLA Optical Dispersion Analyzer Agilent 86038B PNA Performance Network Analyzer TLS Tunable Laser Source MWM Multi wavelength Meter ...

Page 287: ...step 3 Replace the PNA Disc Drive If the system does not restore from the hard disk recovery image the PNA Disc Drive may need to be replaced If the PDLA Application does not automatically launch The PDLA Application should launch automatically after Windows XP boots If not the application can be launched from the PDLA UI shortcut on the desktop or from Start Programs Photonic Dispersion and Loss ...

Page 288: ...ngth meter when applicable If there is any difficulty in contacting these instruments error messages will be displayed and the application may not launch fully There is a 30 minute time out for contacting the TLS as the TLS takes at least 12 minutes to fully boot If there is any difficulty in contacting these instruments ensure that there is power to the test set and refer to Troubleshooting GPIB ...

Page 289: ...er source and multi wavelength meter when applicable If the GPIB addresses for these instruments have been changed the PDLA application will not be able to communicate with them The factory default address for an 8164B and an 86122A is the same 20 If both instruments are on the bus with the same GPIB address you may get confusing error messages likely a message that says the PDLA Application canno...

Page 290: ...or upgrading the instruments are shipped on the OCT Support CD and are stored on the PDLA in the Additional Drivers folder The most recent versions can also be found on the Agilent web site under www agilent com comms octfirmware To upgrade the instruments please follow the instructions in the User s Guide of each instrument The instructions are also available from the Agilent web site The upgrade...

Page 291: ... listener radio button is selected and the address is set to 16 Close the panel and exit the PNA software Open the PDLA application from the PDLA shortcut on the desktop or from Start Menu Programs Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer 6 Ensure that NI GPIB driver is enabled Agilent GPIB driver is disabled The PDLA is based on Agilent s performance network ana...

Page 292: ...ction properly 7 Reboot the TLS 1 Exit the PDLA application File Exit Yes 2 Reboot the TLS 3 Wait for the TLS to start up it will take at least 12 minutes to fully boot Check to see if there are any errors or requests for realignment 4 Start the PDLA software 8 Reboot the PNA 1 Exit the PDLA application File Exit Yes 2 Ensure that all of the instruments are at the proper GPIB addresses 3 Reboot th...

Page 293: ...ent 86038B Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer Second Edition 293 Troubleshooting Problems with Remote Programming For troubleshooting problems with remote programming refer to Troubleshooting on page 157 ...

Page 294: ...t If the Modulator Bias does not complete The Modulator Bias will not complete if the input power detected is too low This will usually be indicated by a No signal Detected message in the status log 1 Ensure that the test set power cord is plugged in 2 Ensure that the TLS is properly connected Use the Real Time Port Monitor to check the power at the Monitor port Usually the Monitor Port will show ...

Page 295: ...n the Status Bar Mode hops small sudden shifts of the laser wavelength can occur swept mode measurements for wide wavelength ranges some wavelength ranges near the end of the tunable laser range and for low laser power settings Even when this occurs the tunable laser wavelength is accurately determined at the trigger for each measurement sample However since the swept measurement samples are integ...

Page 296: ...rious laser instabilities the measurement will be cancelled This may indicate conditions under which the laser cannot correctly operate or that it needs realignment or repair If it is desired to allow such measurements to complete despite the instability this can be chosen from the System Config menu ...

Page 297: ...start the TLS and realign the TLS module on page 299 If wavelengths are incorrect or measurements are incorrect at certain wavelengths 1 Reboot the PNA and TLS 2 If the wavelength errors or wavelength dependent errors still exist troubleshoot the TLS Refer to Restart the TLS and realign the TLS module on page 299 If the GD and Gain Loss data looks incorrect Refer to Choosing Setup Parameters on pa...

Page 298: ...if the Modulation Frequency is changed a new normalization needs to be performed The Auto Modulation frequency option will aid in avoiding phase wraps when measuring fiber spools in stepped mode To enable Auto Modulation frequency press the Sens Res front panel key and put a check in the Auto Modulation Frequency box If GD ripple is being observed If unexpected group delay ripple is observed first...

Page 299: ... icon or navigating to Start Programs Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer 4 If wavelength results are still incorrect check the TLS output wavelength with a multi wavelength meter The TLS module may need to be replaced Test the High Power output on the TLS 1 Ensure the laser is off and disconnect the patchcord from TLS output at the Source Input on the test ...

Page 300: ...ut signal check the optical connections and finally replace the TLS module Low SSE output on the TLS If using a MWM for wavelength correction you should test the Low SSE output on the TLS Follow the steps above using TLS Output 1 If there is a power discrepancy between the TLS and MWM use the power meter to isolate where the failure lies NOTE ...

Page 301: ...gilent com comms oct 2 Download the latest software revision For some upgrades both the PNA and PDLA firmware may also need to be upgraded 3 Run the PDLA User Interface setup package The installer can be launched by double clicking on the executable Select Next or Continue for all prompts 4 Optional Download the PDLA Remote Client Installer Install this on computers that will be used to remotely c...

Page 302: ...ected within a few seconds 3 When the Agilent Technologies System Utilities Screen appears select from the following options a 1 Restore the Factory Image This process restores your system to the original factory installed operating system and system software A recovery should be done if MS Windows is corrupted or if you have been instructed to do so by an Agilent service engineer b 4 Exit the rec...

Page 303: ...d into the PNA using the instructions enclosed with the drive When the unit is then started the PNA software will be launched Close this software interface to install the PDLA User Interface software The setup package for the PDLA software is included on the CD enclosed with the spare drive and can also be obtained via the Agilent web page www agilent com comms octsolutions This software package c...

Page 304: ...ase follow the following safety rules Do not remove instrument covers when operating Ensure that the instrument is switched off throughout the cleaning procedures Use of controls or adjustments or performance of procedures other than those specified may result in hazardous radiation exposure Make sure that you disable all sources when you are cleaning any optical interfaces Under no circumstances ...

Page 305: ...he transmission quality This will reduce the performance of your system Furthermore the power density may burn dust into the fiber and cause additional damage for example 0 dBm optical power in a single mode fiber causes a power density of approximately 16 million W m2 If this happens measurements become inaccurate and non repeatable Cleaning is therefore an essential yet difficult task Unfortunat...

Page 306: ...cohol to clean your optical device do not immediately dry the surface with compressed air except when you are cleaning very sensitive optical devices This is because the dust and the dirt is dissolved in the alcohol and will leave behind filmy deposits after the alcohol has evaporated You should therefore first remove the alcohol and the dust with a soft tissue and then use compressed air to blow ...

Page 307: ...e very absorbent and softer Consequently they will not scratch the surface of your device over time Use care when cleaning and avoid pressing on your optical device with the tissue Pressing too hard may lead to scratches on the surface or misalignment of your device Just rub gently over the surface using a small circular movement Use only clean fresh soft tissues and never apply them twice Any dus...

Page 308: ...ropellant could escape and dirty your optical device First spray into the air as the initial stream of compressed air could contain some condensation or propellant Such condensation leaves behind a filmy deposit Please be friendly to your environment and use a CFC free aerosol Additional Cleaning Equipment Some Cleaning Procedures need the following equipment which is not required to clean each in...

Page 309: ...o not use hot water as this may cause mechanical stress which can damage your optical device Ensure that your liquid soap has no abrasive properties or perfume in it You should also avoid normal washing up liquid as it can cover your device in an iridescent film after it has been air dried Some lenses and mirrors also have a special coating which may be sensitive to mechanical stress or to fat and...

Page 310: ... the appropriate cleaning procedure When inserting the ferrule of a patchcord into a connector or an adapter make sure that the fiber end does not touch the outside of the mating connector or adapter Otherwise you will rub the fiber end against an unsuitable surface producing scratches and dirt deposits on the surface of your fiber Dust Caps and Shutter Caps Be careful when replacing dust caps aft...

Page 311: ...ion your warranty will be invalidated General Cleaning Procedure Light dirt If you just want to clean away light dirt observe the following procedure for all devices Use compressed air to blow away large particles Clean the device with a dry cotton swab Use compressed air to blow away any remaining filament left by the swab Heavy dirt If the above procedure is not enough to clean your instrument f...

Page 312: ...s Optical single mode connectors for high power applications optical power levels bove 100 mW require careful cleaning to prevent the power density of burning dust or dirt into the fiber causing permanent damage to the devices and or connectors If this happens measurements become inaccurate and unrepeatable The Preferred Procedure on page 313 or the Procedure for Stubborn Dirt on page 313 must be ...

Page 313: ...er the surface using a small circular movement 2 Blow away any remaining lint with compressed air Procedure for Stubborn Dirt Use this procedure when there is greasy dirt on the connector 1 Moisten a new cotton swab with isopropyl alcohol 2 Clean the connector by rubbing the cotton swab over the surface using a small circular movement 3 Take a new dry soft tissue and remove the alcohol dissolved s...

Page 314: ...n most occasions 1 Clean the adapter by rubbing a new dry cotton swab over the surface using a small circular movement 2 Blow away any remaining lint with compressed air Procedure for Stubborn Dirt Use this procedure when there is greasy dirt on the adapter 1 Moisten a new cotton swab with isopropyl alcohol 2 Clean the adapter by rubbing the cotton swab over the surface using a small circular move...

Page 315: ...lcohol any dissolved sediment and dust 4 Blow away any remaining lint with compressed air How to clean bare fiber adapters Bare fiber adapters are difficult to clean Protect from dust unless they are in use CAUTION Never use any kind of solvent when cleaning a bare fiber adapter as solvents can Damage the foam inside some adapters Deposit dissolved dirt in the groove which can then dirty the surfa...

Page 316: ...oing so can change the properties of projection If you are cleaning an Agilent 8162 A optical head periodically inspect the optical head s front window for dust and other particles Dust and particles can be propelled through the optical head adapter s pinhole while inserting a connector ferrule into the receptacle Particles on the optical head s front window can significantly impair measurement re...

Page 317: ...ompletely dry and clean CAUTION Only use clean dry compressed air Make sure that the air is free of dust water and oil If the air that you use is not clean and dry this can lead to filmy deposits or scratches on the surface of your connector interface This will degrade the performance of your transmission system Never try to open the instrument and clean the optical block by yourself because it is...

Page 318: ...n Dirt Use this procedure when there is greasy dirt on the interface 1 Moisten a new cotton swab with isopropyl alcohol 2 Clean the interface by rubbing the cotton swab over the surface using a small circular movement 3 Take a new dry soft tissue and remove the alcohol dissolved sediment and dust by rubbing gently over the surface using a small circular movement 4 Blow away any remaining lint with...

Page 319: ...ompressed air If this is not sufficient then a Clean the interface by rubbing a new dry cotton swab over the surface using a small circular movement b Blow away any remaining lint with compressed air Procedure for Stubborn Dirt Use this procedure when there is greasy dirt on the interface and using the preferred procedure is not sufficient Using isopropyl alcohol should be your last choice for rec...

Page 320: ...lm This procedure is time consuming but you avoid scratching or destroying the surface 1 Put the film on the surface and wait at least 30 minutes to make sure that the film has had enough time to dry 2 Remove the film and any dirt with special adhesive tapes Alternative Procedure For these types of optical devices you can often use an ultrasonic bath with isopropyl alcohol Only use the ultrasonic ...

Page 321: ...lowing procedure on most occasions 1 Use compressed air at a distance and with low pressure to remove any dust or lint Procedure for Stubborn Dirt Do not use an ultrasonic bath as this can damage your device Use this procedure when there is greasy dirt on the device 1 Put the optical device into a bath of isopropyl alcohol and wait at least 10 minutes 2 Remove the fluid using compressed air at som...

Page 322: ...d immediately insert the fiber into your bare fiber adapter in order to protect the surface from dirt Preferred Procedure There is an easy method for removing dust from bare fiber ends 1 Touch the bare fiber end with adhesive tape Any dust will be removed How to clean large area lenses and mirrors Some mirrors as those from a monochromator are very soft and sensitive Therefore never touch them and...

Page 323: ...nd liquids For this reason we recommend you do not touch them If you are not sure how sensitive your device is to cleaning please contact the manufacturer or your sales distributor 1 Moisten the lens or the mirror with water 2 Put a little liquid soap on the surface and gently spread the liquid over the whole area 3 Wash off the emulsion with water being careful to remove it all as any remaining s...

Page 324: ...e B If your lens is sensitive to water then 1 Moisten the lens or the mirror with isopropyl alcohol 2 Take a new dry soft tissue and remove the alcohol dissolved sediment and dust by rubbing gently over the surface using a small circular movement 3 Blow away remaining lint with compressed air ...

Page 325: ...nd will rub up against something which could scratch it and leave deposits Lens cleaning papers Some special lens cleaning papers are not suitable for cleaning optical devices like connectors interfaces lenses mirrors and so on To be absolutely certain that a cleaning paper is applicable please ask the salesperson or the manufacturer Immersion oil and other index matching compounds Do not use imme...

Page 326: ...u with product information including realistic performance specifications and practical recommendations from experienced test engineers When you use Agilent equipment we can verify that it works properly help with product operation and provide basic measurement assistance for the use of specified capabilities at no extra cost upon request Often many self help tools are available Your Advantage mea...

Page 327: ...ic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer Second Edition 327 8 Specifications and Regulatory Information Introduction 328 Angled Connector Specifications 338 Specifications 339 Regulatory Information 343 Declaration of Conformity 344 ...

Page 328: ...038B optical dispersion analyzer For specifications specific to the 81600B tunable laser sources refer to the specifications chapter in the Tunable Laser Modules User s Guide Agilent Technologies does not recommend installing any additional software on the system controller Some third party software including printer drivers may impair system operation CAUTION ...

Page 329: ...ies the maximum difference between displayed and actual wavelength Displayed wavelength refers to the wavelength associated with a point in the measurement result Wavelength is defined as wavelength in vacuum Conditions Stepped mode or Swept mode continuous sweep mode as specified Other conditions as specified Chromatic dispersion CD The derivative over wavelength of the Group delay GD or equivale...

Page 330: ...tal conditions expressed as 2 StDevi DGDi DGD denotes the DGD at any wavelength and StDev denotes the standard deviation over repetitions i Conditions Stable setup without cable movement or re connections Measurement see Differential group delay DGD uncertainty Differential group delay DGD The dependence of the Group delay GD at a fixed wavelength resulting from applying all possible polarization ...

Page 331: ...cifies the maximum difference between measured and actual Gain loss expressed in dB Conditions operation mode as specified Loss range as specified Group delay GD The optical signal delay time caused by a device or fiber The signal delay time in the normalization measurement is defined as zero Note In general group delay depends on wavelength and polarization state In some cases for example to dete...

Page 332: ...s in the length measurement The temperature dependence of n is typically on the order of 10 5 C Maximum Safe Optical Input Power The maximum optical power that can safely be applied to the 86038B Receiver Input port without risking damage to the receiver Attention Applying more than the specified maximum safe power may damage the receiver unit Measurement time The time from starting a test device ...

Page 333: ...ximum and minimum loss gain usually expressed in dB Polarization dependent loss PDL uncertainty Specifies the uncertainty of the measurement results for Polarization dependent loss PDL expressed as the maximum difference between the measured value and actual value Conditions operation mode as specified Loss range as specified Measurement Verified at the central wavelength of the 86038B system wave...

Page 334: ...f polarization in Mueller notation Relative group delay rGD The difference in the Group delay GD at two different wavelengths An rGD curve over wavelength shows the group delay difference with respect to the GD at a fixed reference wavelength e g the start wavelength Relative group delay rGD repeatability The agreement of repeated measurements of relative group delay rGD on a stable test device an...

Page 335: ...red rGD values at each wavelength Reference wavelength is the middle of the measured wavelength range Relative wavelength uncertainty When calculating the difference between measured and actual wavelength over a specified wavelength range the relative wavelength uncertainty is half the span between maximum and minimum of all differences Wavelength is defined as wavelength in vacuum Conditions Swep...

Page 336: ...es in a defined way given by start wavelength end wavelength and sweep speed Note A tunable laser source can alternatively be operated in Stepped mode System dynamic range The maximum test device loss for which amplitude measurements can be performed Wavelength increment The nominal wavelength increment in a measurement result Wavelength range The range of wavelength that is available for the meas...

Page 337: ...inty and the dynamic Relative wavelength uncertainty Zero dispersion wavelength Wavelength where the Chromatic dispersion CD of the fiber under test equals zero Zero dispersion wavelength uncertainty Specifies the uncertainty of the measurement results for zero dispersion wavelength expressed as the maximum difference between the measured value and actual value Conditions valid for measurements on...

Page 338: ...back to the source The contact connector on your TLS is angled so only use a cable with angled connectors to connect to the TLS input on the PDLA The PDLA TLS input requires angled connectors Do not use a cable with a flat connector on either the angled PDLA TLS input connector or on the angled TLS output connector The angled connector symbol is typically colored green You should connect straight ...

Page 339: ...over specified wavelength range Specification does not include instability in test device Specified loss ranges include loss of test device and any additional switches or connections in the optical path Specification valid on day of calibration b Modulation frequency fmod 2 GHz IFBW 70 Hz wavelength increment 1 nm PDA correction ON Note for modulation frequencies fmod different from 2 GHz uncertai...

Page 340: ... 316 With Agilent 81600B 160 or 81640B 1495 nm to 1640 nm Opt 115 or 315 With Agilent 81600B 150 or 81680B 1450 nm to 1590 nm Opt 114 or 314 With Agilent 81600B 140 1370 nm to 1495 nm Opt 113 or 313 With Agilent 81600B 130 1260 nm to 1375 nm Minimum Wavelength Increment 0 1 pm n PDLA specifications apply for sweeps within the following wavelength ranges Excluding mode hops For the conditions for m...

Page 341: ... 1 ps nm2 and loss 4 dB Repeatability of Chromatic Dispersion Zero Dispersion Wavelength and Zero Dispersion Slope typ 60 of the respective uncertainty typ 60 of the respective uncertainty t Uncertainties derived from rGD uncertainty and from 2 pm relative wavelength uncertainty for Δλ between 0 1 nm and 10 nm Parameters and conditions as for rGD u Wavelength resolution Δλ equals wavelength increm...

Page 342: ...Net weight Standard system 54 kg 120 lbs Measurement time 30 s DGD PDL swept mode with 4 polarization states IFBW 70 Hz 2 nm wavelength range and 10 pm wavelength increment or 100 nm wavelength range and 1 nm wavelength increment Conditions Maximum Safe Optical Input Power 4 dBm Warm up time 90 minutes Storage temperature 40 C to 70 C Operating temperature 10 C to 35 C Specified temperature 20 C t...

Page 343: ...Requirements This ISM device complies with Canadian ICES 001 Cet appareil ISM est conforme à la norme NMB 001 du Canada Table 8 7 Notice for Germany Noise Declaration Acoustic Noise Emission Geräuschemission LpA 70 dB LpA 70 dB Operator position am Arbeitsplatz Normal operation normaler Betrieb per ISO 7779 nach DIN 45635 1 ...

Page 344: ...1 A3 2003 CISPR 11 1997 A1 1999 EN 55011 1998 A1 1999 Group 1 Class A IEC 61000 4 2 2001 EN 61000 4 2 1995 A1 1998 A2 2001 4kV CD 8kV AD IEC 61000 4 3 2002 A1 2002 EN 61000 4 3 2002 A1 2002 3 V m 80 1000 MHz IEC 61000 4 4 2001 EN 61000 4 4 1995 A1 2001 A2 2001 0 5kV signal lines 1kV power lines IEC 61000 4 5 2001 EN 61000 4 5 1995 A1 2001 0 5 kV line line 1 kV line ground IEC 61000 4 6 1995 A1 200...

Page 345: ...ame viewing or changing 139 Connectivity commands 235 Connectors How to clean 311 Preserving 310 continuous sweep 114 control functions 132 CSA mark 25 csv file format 95 curve fit algorithms 127 Curve Fit function 127 customize normalization settings 107 D data errors 297 dB per division 120 declaration of conformity 344 default settings 98 default values display 99 measurement settings 98 device...

Page 346: ...lection 129 noise declaration 343 noise reducing 110 normalization customizing 107 initiating 115 problems 294 selecting ports 117 setting measurement range 107 Normalization Range commands 249 O object select 130 offset GD trace 123 offset GD trace to zero 121 operation verification 35 optical modulator bias 74 75 optical modulator bias problems 294 optimizing measurements 51 P pan zoom 131 parts...

Page 347: ...24 System commands 272 system diagram 58 system preset 98 T TCP IP configuration 139 temperature icon 100 theory of operation 57 thermometer icon 100 tif file format 95 TLS commands 278 firmware revisions 290 problems 288 299 settling 112 toggle displays 129 toolbar functions 130 trace names defining 45 trace points setting 108 trigger mode 114 132 troubleshooting 287 turning markers on 130 U unit...

Page 348: ...348 Agilent 86038B Photonic Dispersion and Loss Analyzer Second Edition ...

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Page 350: ... Agilent Technologies Manufacturing GmbH Co KG 2006 80638 90B03 Printed in Germany Second Edition July 2006 80638 90B03 www agilent com Agilent Technologies ...