Filter
Top Products
2-22
Making Measurements
Measuring Laser Drift
Measuring Laser Drift
In this section, you’ll learn how the Agilent 86120C can be used to
monitor drift (changes to a laser’s wavelength and amplitude over
time). Drift is measured simultaneously for every laser line that is
identified at the input. The Agilent 86120C keeps track of each laser
line’s initial, current, minimum, and maximum values and displays
their differences relative to itself. This allows the Agilent 86120C to be
used for laser transmitter evaluation, burn-in, or development. In
addition, you can monitor system performance over time, temperature,
or other condition.
The following display shows power and wavelength drift measured on
five laser lines. The DRIFT annotation, item 1, tells you that drift mea-
surements are being performed. The current relative drift values for
wavelength and power are shown in items 2 and 3, respectively.
Item 4 indicates the absolute reference values for the laser line indi-
cated by the cursor . The reference values are measured before the
measurement starts.