Agilent Technologies Agilent 8163A Operating instructions

Agilent 8163A Lightwave Multimeter,
Agilent 8164A Lightwave Measurement System, &
Agilent 8166A Lightwave Multichannel System
Programming Guide

2Agilent 8163A Lightwave Multimeter, Agilent 8164A Lightwave Measurement System,
& Agilent 8166A Lightwave Multichannel System, Third Edition
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Agilent 8163A Lightwave Multimeter, Agilent 8164A Lightwave Measurement System, & Agilent 8166A Lightwave Multichannel
System, Third Edition 3
In this Manual
This manual contains information about SCPI commands which can be
used to program the following instruments:
• Agilent 8163A Lightwave Multimeter
• Agilent 8164A Lightwave Measurement System
• Agilent 8166A Lightwave Multichannel System
The Structure of this Manual
This manual is divided into 5 parts:
•“Introduction to Programming” on page 15 gives a general
introduction to SCPI programming with the Agilent 8163A Lightwave
Multimeter, the Agilent 8164A Lightwave Measurement System, and
the Agilent 8166A Lightwave Multichannel System.
•“Specific Commands”on page 35 lists all instrument specific
commands.
•“Instrument Setup and Status”on page 45, “Measurement
Operations & Settings”on page 67, and “Mass Storage, Display, and
Print Functions”on page 129 give fuller explanations of all
instrument specific commands.
•“VISA Programming Examples”on page 133 gives some example
programs showing how the SCPI commands can be used with the
Agilent 8163A Lightwave Multimeter, the Agilent 8164A Lightwave
Measurement System, and the Agilent 8166A Lightwave Multichannel
System.
•“The Agilent 816x VXIplug&play Instrument Driver”on page 155,
“GPIB Command Compatibility List”on page 183, and “Error
Codes”on page 191 give information about the Agilent 816x
VXIplug&play Instrument Driver, compatibility issues, and error
codes.
Conventions used in this Manual
•All commands and typed text is written in Courier font, for example
INIT[:IMM].

4Agilent 8163A Lightwave Multimeter, Agilent 8164A Lightwave Measurement System,
& Agilent 8166A Lightwave Multichannel System, Third Edition
•SCPI commands are written in mixed case: text that you MUST print is
written in capitals; text which is helpful but nor necessary is written in
lower case.
So, the command INITiate[:IMMediate] can be entered either as
init[:imm], or as initiate[:immediate]. It does not matter
whether you enter text using capitals or lower-case letters.
•SCPI commands often contain extra arguments in square brackets.
These arguments may be helpful, but they need not be entered.
So, the command INITiate[:IMMediate] can be entered as init
or initiate:imm.
•A SCPI command which can be either a command or a query is
appended with the text /?.
So, DISPlay:ENABle/? refers to both the command
DISPlay:ENABle and the query DISPlay:ENABle?.
Related Manuals
You can find more information about the instruments covered by this
manual in the following manuals:
•Agilent 8163A Lightwave Multimeter, Agilent 8164A Lightwave
Measurement System, & Agilent 8166A Lightwave Multichannel
System User’s Guide (Agilent Product Number 08164-91011).
NOTE Please note that User Guides no longer contain programming
information, and must now be used in conjunction with this manual.
If you are not familiar with the General Purpose Interface Bus, GPIB,
then refer to the following books:
•ANSI/IEEE-488.1-1978, IEEE Standard Digital Interface for
Programmable Instrumentation, and ANSI/IEEE-488.2-1987, IEEE
Standard Codes, Formats, and Common Commands, published by
the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.
In addition, the commands not from the IEEE 488.2 standard are defined
according to the Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments
(SCPI). For an introduction to SCPI and SCPI programming techniques,
refer to the following documents:
•Hewlett-Packard Press (Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.): A
Beginners Guide to SCPI by Barry Eppler.

Agilent 8163A Lightwave Multimeter, Agilent 8164A Lightwave Measurement System, & Agilent 8166A Lightwave Multichannel
System, Third Edition 5
•The SCPI Consortium: Standard Commands for Programmable
Instruments. To obtain a copy of this manual, contact the following
address:
SCPI Consortium Office
Bode Enterprise
2515 Camino del Rio South, Suite 340
San Diego, CA, 92108
USA
Web: http://www.scpiconsortium.org

6Agilent 8163A Lightwave Multimeter, Agilent 8164A Lightwave Measurement System,
& Agilent 8166A Lightwave Multichannel System, Third Edition

Contents
Agilent 8163A Lightwave Multimeter, Agilent 8164A Lightwave Measurement System, & Agilent 8166A Lightwave Multichannel
System, Third Edition 7
Contents
In this Manual 3
The Structure of this Manual 3
Conventions used in this Manual 3
Related Manuals 4
Contents 7
Figures 11
Tables 13
Introduction to Programming 15
GPIB Interface 17
Setting the GPIB Address 18
Returning the Instrument to Local Control 19
Message Queues 19
How the Input Queue Works 19
Clearing the Input Queue 20
The Output Queue 20
The Error Queue 20
Programming and Syntax Diagram Conventions 21
Short Form and Long Form 21
Command and Query Syntax 22
Units 22
Data Types 23
Slot and Channel Numbers 23
Laser Selection Numbers 24
Common Commands 25
Common Command Summary 25
Common Status Information 25
The Status Model 27
Status Registers 27
Status System for 8163A & 8164A 30
Status System for 8166A 30

Contents
8Agilent 8163A Lightwave Multimeter, Agilent 8164A Lightwave Measurement System,
& Agilent 8166A Lightwave Multichannel System, Third Edition
Annotations 32
Status Byte Register 32
Standard Event Status Register 32
Operation/Questionable Status Summary 32
Operation/Questionable Status Summary Register 32
Operation/Questionable Slot Status 33
Operation Slot Status Register 33
Questionable Slot Status Register 33
Status Command Summary 34
Other Commands 34
Specific Commands 35
Specific Command Summary 37
Instrument Setup and Status 45
IEEE-Common Commands 47
Status Reporting – The STATus Subsystem 54
Interface/Instrument Behaviour Settings – The SYSTem
Subsystem 64
Measurement Operations & Settings 67
Root Layer Command 69
Measurement Functions – The SENSe Subsystem 72
Agilent 81635A and Agilent 81619A- Master and Slave
Channels 72
Signal Generation – The SOURce Subsystem 92
Triggering - The TRIGger Subsystem 117
Extended Trigger Configuration 123
Extended Trigger Configuration Example 127
Mass Storage, Display, and Print Functions 129
Display Operations – The DISPlay Subsystem 131
VISA Programming Examples 133
How to Use VISA Calls 135
How to Set up a Fixed Laser Source 137
How to Measure Power using FETCh and READ 139

Contents
Agilent 8163A Lightwave Multimeter, Agilent 8164A Lightwave Measurement System, & Agilent 8166A Lightwave Multichannel
System, Third Edition 9
How to Co-ordinate Two Modules 143
How Power Varies with Wavelength 147
How to Log Results 150
The Agilent 816x VXIplug&play Instrument Driver 155
Installing the Agilent 816x Instrument Driver 157
Using Visual Programming Environments 160
Getting Started with HP VEE 160
GPIB Interfacing in HP VEE 161
Getting Started with LabView 162
Getting Started with LabWindows 165
Features of the Agilent 816x Instrument Driver 165
Directory Structure 167
Opening an Instrument Session 167
Closing an Instrument Session 168
VISA Data Types and Selected Constant Definitions 168
Error Handling 169
Introduction to Programming 170
Example Programs 170
VISA-Specific Information 171
Instrument Addresses 171
Callbacks 171
Development Environments 171
Microsoft Visual C++ 4.0 (or higher) and Borland C++ 4.5 (or higher)
171
Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 (or higher) 171
HP VEE 5.01 (or higher) 172
LabWindows CVI/ (R) 4.0 (or higher) 172
Online Information 172
Lambda Scan Applications 173
Equally Spaced Datapoints 174
How to Perform a Lambda Scan Application 176
The Prepare Lambda Scan Function 176
The Get Lambda Scan Parameters Function 177
The Execute Lambda Scan Function 177
How to Perform a Multi-Frame Lambda Scan Application 178
The Equally Spaced Datapoints Function 179
The Register Mainframe Function 179

Contents
10 Agilent 8163A Lightwave Multimeter, Agilent 8164A Lightwave Measurement System,
& Agilent 8166A Lightwave Multichannel System, Third Edition
The Unregister Mainframe Function 179
The Prepare Multi Frame Lambda Scan Function 180
The Get MF Lambda Scan Parameters Function 181
The Execute Multi Frame Lambda Scan Function 181
The Get Lambda Scan Result Function 181
The Get Number of PWM Channels Function 182
The Get Channel Location Function 182
GPIB Command Compatibility List 183
Compatibility Issues 185
GPIB Bus Compatibility 185
Status Model 185
Preset Defaults 185
Removed Command 186
Obsolete Commands 187
Changed Parameter Syntax and Semantics 187
Changed Query Result Values 188
Timing Behavior 189
Error Handling 189
Command Order 190
Instrument Status Settings 190
Error Codes 191
GPIB Error Strings 193
Index 199