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

Figures
Agilent 8163A Lightwave Multimeter, Agilent 8164A Lightwave Measurement System, & Agilent 8166A Lightwave Multichannel
System, Third Edition 11
Figures
Figure 1 Remote Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Figure 2 The Event Status Bit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Figure 3 The Registers and Filters for a Node . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Figure 4 The Operational/Questionable Status System for 8163A & 8164A . . . . 30
Figure 5 The Operational/Questionable Status System for 8166A . . . . . . 31
Figure 6 Extended Trigger Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Figure 7 Setup for Extended Trigger Configuration Example . . . . . . 127
Figure 8 Non-Administrator Installation Pop-Up Box . . . . . . . . 157
Figure 9 Message Screen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Figure 10 Customizing Your Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Figure 11 Program Folder Item Options . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Figure 12 Device Configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Figure 13 Advanced Device Configuration - Plug&play Driver . . . . . . 162
Figure 14 Search for GPIB Instruments. . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Figure 15 FP Conversion Options Box . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Figure 16 Windows 95 and Windows NT VXIPNP Directory Structure . . . . 167
Figure 17 Equally Spaced Datapoints . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Figure 18 Lambda Scan Operation Setup . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Figure 19 Multi Frame Lambda Scan Operation Setup . . . . . . . . 178

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

Tables
Agilent 8163A Lightwave Multimeter, Agilent 8164A Lightwave Measurement System, & Agilent 8166A Lightwave Multichannel
System, Third Edition 13
Tables
Table 1 GPIB Capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Table 2 Units and allowed Mnemonics . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Table 3 Common Command Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Table 4 Specific Command Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Table 5 Commands that can only be configured using the master channel . . . 73
Table 6 Commands that are independent for both master and slave channels . . 73
Table 7 Triggering and Power Measurements . . . . . . . . . 117
Table 8 Generating Output Triggers from Power Measurements . . . . . 118
Table 9 Incompatible GPIB Bus Commands . . . . . . . . . . 185
Table 10 Removed Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Table 11 Obsolete Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Table 12 Commands with Different Parameters or Syntax . . . . . . . 187
Table 13 Queries with Different Result Values . . . . . . . . . . 188
Table 14 Timing Behavior Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Table 15 Error Handling Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Table 16 Specific Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Table 17 Overview for Supported Strings . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Table 18 Overview for Unsupported Strings . . . . . . . . . . 196

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

Agilent 8163A Lightwave Multimeter, Agilent 8164A Lightwave Measurement System, & Agilent 8166A Lightwave Multichannel
System, Third Edition 15
Introduction to Programming

Introduction to Programming
16 Agilent 8163A Lightwave Multimeter, Agilent 8164A Lightwave Measurement System,
& Agilent 8166A Lightwave Multichannel System, Third Edition
This chapter gives general information on how to control your
instrument remotely.
Descriptions for the actual commands for the instruments are given in
the following chapters. The information in these chapters is specific to
the Agilent 8163A Lightwave Multimeter, Agilent 8164A Lightwave
Measurement System, and Agilent 8166A Lightwave Multichannel System
and assumes that you are already familiar with programming the GPIB.

GPIB Interface Introduction to Programming
Agilent 8163A Lightwave Multimeter, Agilent 8164A Lightwave Measurement System, & Agilent 8166A Lightwave Multichannel
System, Third Edition 17
GPIB Interface
The interface used by your instrument is the GPIB (General Purpose
Interface Bus).
GPIB is the interface used for communication between a controller and
an external device, such as the tunable laser source. The GPIB conforms
to IEEE standard 488-1978, ANSI standard MC 1.1 and IEC
recommendation 625-1.
If you are not familiar with the GPIB, then refer to the following books:
•The International Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
IEEE Standard 488.1-1987, IEEE Standard Digital Interface for
Programmable Instrumentation. New York, NY, 1987
•The International Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
IEEE Standard 488.2-1987, IEEE Standard Codes, Formats,
Protocols and Common Commands For Use with ANSI/IEEE Std
488.1-1987. New York, NY, 1987
To obtain a copy of either of these last two documents, write to:
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
345 East 47th Street
New York, NY 10017
USA.
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, please
refer to the following documents:
•Hewlett-Packard Press (Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.). A
Beginners Guide to SCPI. Barry Eppler. 1991.
•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

Introduction to Programming GPIB Interface
18 Agilent 8163A Lightwave Multimeter, Agilent 8164A Lightwave Measurement System,
& Agilent 8166A Lightwave Multichannel System, Third Edition
The interface of the Agilent 8163A Lightwave Multimeter and of the
Agilent 8164A Lightwave Measurement System to the GPIB is defined by
the IEEE Standards 488.1 and 488.2.
Table 1 shows the interface functional subset that the instruments
implement.
Setting the GPIB Address
There are two ways to set the GPIB address:
•You can set the GPIB address by using the command
“:SYSTem:COMMunicate:GPIB[:SELF]:ADDRess”on page 66.
•You can set the GPIB address from the front panel. See your
instrument’s User’s Guide for more information.
The default GPIB address is 20.
Table 1 GPIB Capabilities
Mnemonic Function
SH1 Complete source handshake capability
AH1 Complete acceptor handshake capability
T6 Basic talker; serial poll; unaddressed to talk if addressed to
listen
L4 Basic listener; unaddressed to listen if addressed to talk; no
listen only
SR1 Complete service request capability
RL1 Complete remote/local capability
PP0 No parallel poll capability
DC1 Device clear capability
DT0 No device trigger capability
C0 No controller capability (Controller capability to be imple-
mented)

Message Queues Introduction to Programming
Agilent 8163A Lightwave Multimeter, Agilent 8164A Lightwave Measurement System, & Agilent 8166A Lightwave Multichannel
System, Third Edition 19
Returning the Instrument to Local Control
If the instrument is in remote control, a screen resembling
Figure 1 will appear. Press [Local] if you wish to return the instrument to
local control.
Figure 1 Remote Control
Message Queues
The instrument exchanges messages using an input and an output queue.
Error messages are kept in a separate error queue.
How the Input Queue Works
The input queue is a FIFO queue (first-in first-out). Incoming bytes are
stored in the input queue as follows:
1Receiving a byte:
–Clears the output queue.
–Clears Bit 7 (MSB).

Introduction to Programming Message Queues
20 Agilent 8163A Lightwave Multimeter, Agilent 8164A Lightwave Measurement System,
& Agilent 8166A Lightwave Multichannel System, Third Edition
2No modification is made inside strings or binary blocks. Outside
strings and binary blocks, the following modifications are made:
–Lower-case characters are converted to upper-case.
–The characters 0016 to 0916 and 0B16 to 1F16 are converted to spaces
(2016).
–Two or more blanks are truncated to one.
3An EOI (End Or Identify) sent with any character is put into the input
queue as the character followed by a line feed (LF, 0A16). If EOI is sent
with a LF, only one LF is put into the input queue.
4The parser starts if the LF character is received or if the input queue is
full.
Clearing the Input Queue
Switching the power off, or sending a Device Interface Clear signal,
causes commands that are in the input queue, but have not been
executed to be lost.
The Output Queue
The output queue contains responses to query messages. The instrument
transmits any data from the output queue when a controller addresses
the instrument as a talker.
Each response message ends with a carriage return (CR, 0D16) and a LF
(0A16), with EOI=TRUE. If no query is received, or if the query has an
error, the output queue remains empty.
The Message Available bit (MAV, bit 4) is set in the Status Byte register
whenever there is data in the output queue.
The Error Queue
The error queue is 30 errors long. It is a FIFO queue (first-in first-out).
That is, the first error read is the oldest error to have occurred. A new
error is only put into the queue if it is not already in it.
If more than 29 errors are put into the queue, the message:
-350 <Queue Overflow>
is placed as the last message in the queue.