Keysight N773-C Family of Optical Switches

Automate with Ease

The Keysight N773-C family of single-mode fiber-optic switches are an indispensable tool to automate photonic test solutions. Based on optical microelectromechanic systems (MEMS) technology, those switches use tiny mirrors to guide the light to the desired output. MEMS based optical switches offer outstanding durability, repeatability, and fast switching times. The new switch generation sports an onboard graphical user interface for easy control without software installation, accessible via GbE LAN and USB 2.0 connections. It comes in three topologies covering typical applications requiring 1x4 or 1x16 or 2x2 configurations.

Compact Stand-Alone Switches

These instruments are used for automatic routing of optical signals for testing devices like transceivers, amplifiers, and passive components. Optical switches optimize the investment in automated test equipment by improving repeatability and throughput and supporting parallel measurements of multiport and multiple devices.

Switching Reduces Uncertainty from Connections and Eases Automation

Test automation

These optical switches can be used to avoid repeated reconnections during your measurements and are critical to automated procedures. The excellent switching repeatability assures that the signal level is constant from cycle to cycle. The low IL and PDL and high repeatability assure minimum impact of the switch on measurement accuracy. A typical setup may use a 1x4 switch to select among several source wavelengths in a test, while avoiding the time delay for power stabilization if each source must be cycled on and off. Or the same digital signal may be switched among several instruments, like a power meter, DCA or BERT

Parallel testing for test throughput and efficient use of instrumentation

In many cases, valuable signal source and analysis instrumentation can be used more effectively in a parallel-test configuration. For example, multiple cables or components can be tested together during temperature cycling. On the other hand, an increasing use of inherently parallel components, as for optical interconnections for 40G or 100G using 10 Gb/s components, calls for identical testing in multiple paths. These are well supported by the 1x16 switch configuration covering both, devices with up to 16 ports, as well as the test of 15 devices where the 16th path can be used as a permanent reference path.

Bypass device under test for reference measurement

In most stimulus-response tests, such as insertion loss measurements, the signal at the output of the device under test is to be compared to the signal at its input. A 2x2 switch allows to bypass the device under test for the reference measurement and reduces the number of manual reconnections for better repeatability and lower uncertainty.

Reversing the signal direction

While most passive optical components are bidirectional, there are some that exhibit different signal conditioning behavior, depending on the direction of the optical signal. Optical isolators and circulators are designed to block or route signals depending on their direction. Other components, such as variable optical attenuators, may exhibit an unwanted directional dependency that needs to be measured. A 2x2 switch allows to reverse the signal direction, e.g., to measure an optical isolator in forward direction for insertion loss and in reverse direction for its isolation.