The selection of optic power meter

According to the specific applications, when we want to choose a suitable optic power meter, the following things should be concerned: 1.Choose the most suitable probe type and interface type; 2.E aluating calibration accuracy and calibration procedures should be in accordance with ac!uired range of your optical fiber and splice; ".Ensure the model numbers of these optic power meters correspond to your measurement range and display resolution; #.The optic power meter should be e!uipped with db function$straight insertion and loss measurement%. Among all the properties of an optic power meter, optical probe should be most considered. The optical probe is a solid state photodiode which can recei e coupling optics and con ert it into electrical signal.The optical probe can be adapted to e&clusi e connector interface $used only as one connection type% and general'purpose interface adapter (C) $connected with screw%. (C) can adapt to most *inds of industry standardi+ed connector. ,ased on the calibration factor of the selected wa elength, optic power meter circuit con erts the outcoming signals from probe, and then displays the optical power reading as d,m way $absolute d, e!uals 1 m-, .d,m/1m-% on the screen. Chart 1 is a bloc* chart of optic power meter. The most potent standard of optic power meter0s selection is to ma*e optical probe types match the e&pected operating wa elength range. This chart tabulated some basic choices. )t is worth mentioning that )n1aAs performs !uite well in three transmitting windows during testing. Compared to 1ermanium, )n1aAs has a more stable fre!uency spectrum in all these three windows; )n1aAs en2oys a higher measurement accuracy in 133.nm window; And also, in terms of temperature stability and low noise, )n1aAs is much superior to 1ermanium. 4ptical power measurement is an essential part during manufacturing, mounting, operating and maintaining of any fiber optic transmission system. The ne&t factor is closely lin*ed with calibration accuracy. The !uestion is: when you calibrate an optic power meter, is it matched with your applications5 4r as: the performance standard of optical fiber and connector should be in accordance with your system re!uirements. -e should analyse what caused the uncertain measured alue while using different Connecting Adapters. The fre!uency spectrum of similar optical sources, optical probe types and connectors from different manufacturers is uncertain, despite that 6)7T $6ational )nstitute of 7tandards and Technology% has established American standard, it0s still !uite important to ta*e other latent errors into consideration. The third step is to ensure those optic power meter model numbers correspond to your re!uirements of measurement range. -e use d,m as unit. The measurement range is an all'sided parameter. -e will ma*e sure whether application re!uirements are to be met by the minimum8ma&imum magnitude of incoming signal $to ma*e optic power meter adapt to all accuracies%, linearity $,E99C4:E made it to be ;..<d,% and resolution ratio$generally to be ..1 d, or ...1 d,%.

The most important thing in optic power meter selection is that optical probes match the e&pected wor*ing range. The fourth thing is that most optic power meters ha e e!uipped with d, function $relati e power%, as directly reading optical loss is !uite practical in measurements. 4ptic power meter in at low prices don0t support this. -ithout d, function, technologists ha e to record reference alues and measured alues respecti ely, and calculate their difference alues. ,ecause of the relati e loss measurement function, users can raise producti ities and reduce manually calculating errors. Today, the choices of basic characteristics and functions of optic power meters become decreased for users. ,ut special re!uests including recording data collecting history and peripheral interface are made by some users. stabili+ed light source =uring the process of loss measurement, stabili+ed light source$797% emit the light whose power and wa elength are already *nown into light system. Those optic power meters 8optical probes which can calibrate specific wa elength light source$797% recei e the light from optical networ* and con ert it into electrical signal. To ensure the accuracy of loss measurement, the transmission e!uipments used in light source simulation should : 1.ha e same wa elength, and use the same light source$9E=, laser%; 2.*eep the stability of output power and fre!uency spectrum$the stability of time and temperature% during measuring. ".pro ide the same connecting interfaces and use the same optical fiber; #.ensure the output power meets system loss at anytime. The best choice of light source should simulate characteristics and measurement re!uirements of systematic optical transmitter and recei er when the transmission system need a solitary and stabili+ed light source. )n terms of light source selection, things should be concerned are: 9aser =iode$9=% The light from 9aser =iode has a narrow wa elength bandwidth. And it0s monochromatic light, that is to say its single wa e is long. Compared with 9E=, laser which passes through its spectral band is discontinuous, and it emits se eral wa e lengths whose pea* alues are low in the two sides of the central wa elength. Compared with 9E= light sources, laser light sources are much more e&pensi e than it despite that laser light sources are pro ed to be more powerful. 1enerally 9aser =iodes are used in long distance single'mode systems whose losses are more than 1.d,. -e should try to not use laser light sources in multimode fiber measurements. 9ight Emitting =iode$9E=% 9E= has a wider spectrum than 9=, generally it0s from 3. to 2..nm. And its output power is more stable because 9E= is a *ind of non'interference light. 9E= light sources are much cheaper than 9= light source, but it0s underpower when the loss measurement at worst condition. 9E= light sources are typically used in 9ocal Area 6etwor*$9A6% of short distance networ*s and multimode fibers. -hen 9E= has enough output power, it can be used in laser light source single mode system to conduct an accurate loss measurement.