8162-C and N7749C Optical Power Meter Heads and Optical Head Interface

General Information

Large area detectors

The new 8162-C series optical power heads provide a 5 mm detector area or an integrating sphere and allow flexible placement of the remote optical power meter, which is then connected to the N7749C. A wide choice of adapters allows input from popular fiber connector types, bare fibers or open beams. The magnetic D-shaped adapters allow rapid removal and replacement without twisting attached fibers.

The simple geometry and high-quality detectors provide the highest accuracy measurements. Models are also available with enhanced metrology reference quality calibrations for use as working standards or other demanding applications.

N7749C interface for two or four optical power heads

The N7749C optical head interface controls the remote heads. Readout is supported over LAN and USB interfaces with a built-in web-browser GUI and the SCPI command set common to Keysight optical power meters. Power values can be logged with dual-1M sample buffers for each head, to sample continuously with internal or external triggering. The heads generally have sample averaging times ranging from 100 µs to 10 s.

High-power versions up to +26 dBm and +40 dBm

The 81626C with standard geometry and the 81628C with an integrating sphere are available for high power and special geometry measurements.

Analog output port perfect for automated alignment

Direct feedback for optimization processes like fiber alignment is also provided with analog voltage outputs, both at the remote head itself and now from the N7749C front panel. The front-panel signals can be configured to be either linearly proportional to the optical signal power or logarithmic to provide useful signal over decades of power levels.

Members of a growing family

The N7749C benefits from the N77-C’s family-wide, common trigger concept, and a modern, browseraccessible user interface, that makes it convenient to configure the instrument’s functionality. Highspeed measurement data acquisition, faster data interfaces, the use of dual-ported RAM for uninterrupted simultaneous measurement and readout, all work to minimize overhead time for repetitive measurements.

Selection guide

• 81620C: Si detector, 450 nm to 1020 nm, low noise, best choice for 850 nm

• 81623C: Ge detector, wide 750 nm to 1800 nm range

• 81624C: InGaAs detector, highest accuracy, lowest noise

• 81626C: InGaAs detector, +27 dBm high power

• 81628C: InGaAs detector, integrating sphere, +40 dBm max, highest accuracy at high power

Compatibility notice

The new N7749C optical head interface supports the newly released 81620C, 81623C, 81624C, 81626C and 81628C optical heads and their special calibration variants as well as the previous generation optical heads 81620B, 81623B, 81624B, 81626B and 81628B.

Please note that obsolete optical heads, e.g., those of the 8152xA or 8162xA generation, are not supported by the N7749C optical head interface and there are no plans to add support. Likewise, 8162-C optical heads cannot be used with 81618A or 81619A optical head interface modules or with the 8153A Lightwave Multimeter.

Fast Swept-wavelength Measurements with Detached Optical Power Sensors

For test scenarios that require swept-wavelength measurements with detached sensors, the 8162-C series of optical power heads can be controlled by the photonic application software suite. To perform spectral measurements of insertion loss and polarization dependent loss they are combined with Keysight tunable lasers and a polarization synthesizer. The very low polarization dependence of the heads, especially the 81624C, provide the lowest PDL measurement uncertainty. The photonic application software suite has a measurement engine for IL and PDL that can combine the sweeps of up to 3 tunable laser wavelength ranges. See the photonic application software suite brochure for details. www.keysight.com/find/n7700.