HP 8509A Product information sheet

User's/Reference Guide
HP 8509A/B LightwavePolarization
Analyzer
ABCDE
HP Part No. 08509-90016 Supersedes: 08509-90003
Printed in USA October 1994

Notice.
The information contained in this document is sub ject to change
without notice.
Hewlett-Packard makes no warrantyofany kind with regard to this
material, including but not limited to, the implied warranties of
merchantability and tness for a particular purpose. Hewlett-Packard
shall not b e liable for errors contained herein or for incidental
or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing,
performance, or use of this material.
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trademarks, and Windows is a trademark, of Microsoft Corp oration.
c

Cop
yrigh
tHewlett-P
ac
k
ard Compan
y1992, 1994
All Righ
ts Reserv
ed. Reproduction, adaptation, or translation
without prior written permission is prohibited, except as allow
ed
under the cop
yrigh
tla
ws.
1400 F
oun
taingrov
eP
arkw
a
y
,Santa Rosa, CA 95403, USA

Certification
Hewlett-Packard Company certies that this pro duct met its
published specications at the time of shipment from the factory.
Hewlett-Packard further certies that its calibration measurements
are traceable to the United States National Institute of Standards
and Technology, to the extent allowed by the Institute's calibration
facility, and to the calibration facilities of other International
Standards Organization members.
Regulatory Information
Chapter 9 contains regulatory information.
Warranty
This Hewlett-Packard instrument pro duct is warranted against
defects in material and workmanship for a p erio d of one year from
date of shipment. During the warranty p erio d, Hewlett-Packard
Company will, at its option, either repair or replace pro ducts which
pro
v
eto bedefectiv
e.
F
or w
arran
t
yservice or repair, this pro duct m
ust bereturned to a
service facilit
ydesignated b
yHewlett-P
ac
k
ard. Buy
er shall prepa
y
shipping c
harges to Hewlett-P
ac
k
ard and Hewlett-P
ac
k
ard shall pa
y
shipping c
harges to return the pro duct to Buy
er. Ho
w
ev
er, Buy
er
shall payall shipping c
harges, duties, and taxes for pro ducts returned
to Hewlett-P
ac
k
ard from another coun
try
.
Hewlett-P
ac
k
ard w
arran
ts that its soft
w
are and rm
w
are designated
b
yHewlett-P
ac
k
ard for use with an instrumen
twill execute
its programming instructions when properly installed on that
instrument. Hewlett-Pac
k
ard does not w
arran
tthat the operation
of the instrumen
t, or soft
w
are, or rm
w
are will beunin
terrupted or
error-free.
Limitation of Warranty
The foregoing warranty shall not apply to defects resulting from
improp er or inadequate maintenance byBuyer, Buyer-supplied
software or interfacing, unauthorized mo dication or misuse,
operation outside of the en
vironmental specications for the
pro duct, or improp er site preparation or main
tenance.
NO OTHER W
ARRANTY IS EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED.
HEWLETT-PACKARD SPECIFICALL
Y DISCLAIMS THE
IMPLIED W
ARRANTIES OF MER
CHANTABILITY AND
FITNESS F
OR A P
ARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Exclusive Remedies
THE REMEDIES PROVIDED HEREIN ARE BUYER'S SOLE
AND EX
CLUSIVE REMEDIES. HEWLETT-P
A
CKARD SHALL
NOT BE LIABLE F
OR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL,
INCIDENT
AL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL D
AMA
GES, WHETHER
iii

BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL
THEORY.
Assistance
Product maintenance agreements and other customer assistance
agreements are available for Hew lett-Packardproducts.
For any assistance, contact your nearest Hew lett-Packard Sales and
ServiceOce.
Safety Notes
The following safety notes are used throughout this manual.
Familiarize yourself with each of the notes and its meaning before
operating this instrument.
Caution
Caution denotes ahazard. It calls atten
tion to apro cedure that, if
not correctly performed or adhered to, w
ould result in damage to or
destruction of the instrumen
t. Do not pro ceed bey
ond acaution sign
un
til the indicated conditions are fully understoodand met.
W
arning
W
arning denotes ahazard. It calls attention to aprocedure which, if
not correctly performed or adhered to, could result in injury or loss
of life. Do not proceed bey
ond aw
arning note until the indicated
conditions are fully understood and met.
L
The instruction documen
tation symbol. The product is
mark
ed with this sym
bol when it is necessary for the user to refer to
the instructions in the documen
tation.
\CE" The CE mark is a registered trademark of the Europ ean
Community. (If accompanied byayear, it is when the design was
proven.)
\ISM1-A" This is a sym
bol of an Industrial Scien
tic and Medical
Group 1Class Apro duct.
\CSA" The CSA mark is a registered trademark of the Canadian
Standards Association.
iv

General Safety Considerations
Warning
This is a Safety Class I product (provided with a protective earthing
ground incorporated in the power cord). The mains plug shall only be
inserted in a socket outlet provided with a protective earth contact.
Any interruption of the protective conductor, inside or outside the
instrument, is likely to make the instrument dangerous. Intentional
interruption is prohibited.
Warning
No operator serviceable parts inside. Refer servicing to qualified
personnel. To prevent electrical shock, do not removecovers.
Caution
Before switching on this instrument, make sure that the line voltage
selector switch is set to the voltage of the power supply and the
correct fuse is installed.
v

Contents
1. Getting Started
Description of the Instrument . . . . . . . . . . 1-1
Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1
About This Manual Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2
This guide uses the following conventions: . . . . 1-2
HP 8509A/B User's/Reference Guide Table of
Contents (this manual) . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3
The Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4
The Data Displays (Power, DOP, Ellipse and Poincare
Sphere) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5
Po
wer Display . . ..............1-5
DOP Display................ 1-5
P
oincare Sphere ...............1-5
P
olarization Ellipse ............ . . 1-5
The Mark
er F
unctions ..... . .......1-6
Setting aMarker ...............1-6
Setting aMark
er at the Curren
tData P
oin
t..1-7
Setting aMark
er at aUser-Specied P
oin
t... 1-7
T
urning the Mark
ers On and O ........1-8
Clearing the Mark
ers .............1-8
Cen
tering the Sphere on aMark
er or Curren
tP
oin
t1-9
Tw
o- or Three-P
oin
tP
olarization Reference .. . 1-9
Zo om and Rotate . . . . . ...........1-10
Zo om .................. . .1-10
ToZoomIn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-10
To Zo om Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-10
The Zo om Factor Function . . . . . . . . . 1-10
Rotate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-11
To Rotate the Sphere . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-11
The 4
Home
5 Button ............ . 1-11
4
Clea
rT
race
5
and Hold .... . .........1-11
4
ClearT
race
5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-11
Hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-11
4

5 and Cal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-12
4

5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-12
Source W
avelength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-12
Cal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-12
Contents-1

2. Making Measurements
Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-1
PMD Measurement: Jones Matrix Eigenanalysis
Metho d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2
Basic Measurement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3
Setting up the System . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3
External Source Preparation . . . . . . . . . . 2-4
Making the Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . 2-8
Manipulating the Measurement Results . . . . . . 2-13
The Measurement Summary Bar . . . . . . . . 2-13
The Measurement Annotation Area . . . . . . . 2-14
Using The Cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-15
Changing The MeasurementFormat . . . . . . 2-15
Changing The Graph's Y-Scale . . . . . . . . . 2-16
Displaying and Printing Data in Tabular Format . 2-16
Displaying Data in a Statistical Format . . . . . 2-17
The File menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-19
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Add from Selected JME Window F2 . . . . 2-19
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Add from Database...F3
........2-19
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Add from Text File...F4
........2-19
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Load Statistics...F5
.........2-19
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Save Statistics...F6
. . .......2-19
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Print Bitmap
..............2-20
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Print Data
..... . .........2-20
NNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Exit
............ . .....2-20
The Edit men
u........... . ...2-20
The F
ormat Men
u... . . . .......2-20
The Help menu ..............2-21
The Annotation Area ............2-21
Prin
ting the PMD:JME Graph ..... . . . .2-22
Sa
ving y
our Measurement as T
ext . ......2-22
Saving in Database Format . . . . . . . . . . 2-23
Specialized Measurement Metho ds . . . . . . . . 2-24
Performing a Cascade Measurement . . . . . . 2-24
Setting up the System . . . . . . . . . . . 2-24
Making the Measuremen
t . .........2-25
Using aV
oltage-T
uned Source ... . .....2-28
Using aManually-T
uned source ........2-28
PMD:JME Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-29
Polarization Mo de Disp ersion . . . . . . . . . 2-29
Polarization modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-29
General eects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-29
Mo de coupling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-29
PMD units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-30
Fib er PMD statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-30
Fitting the Maxw
ell curv
eto the distribution .2-30
Enlarging the sample size ..........2-30
Source spectral c
haracteristics .........2-31
Should Iuse the reference frame? ... . ....2-31
Contents-2

Cascade measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-31
What is a cascade measurement? . . . . . . . 2-31
Typical applications . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-31
PMD Measurement: Wavelength-Scanning Metho d . 2-33
Basic Measurement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-34
Setting up the System . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-34
Making the Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . 2-35
Manipulating the Measurement Results . . . . . . 2-38
The Measurement Summary Bar . . . . . . . . 2-38
The Measurement Annotation Area . . . . . . . 2-39
Using The Cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-39
Changing The MeasurementFormat . . . . . . 2-40
Displaying and Printing Data in Tabular Format . 2-41
Printing your Graph . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-42
Saving your MeasurementasText . . . . . . . 2-43
Saving in Database Format . . . . . . . . . . 2-43
PMD:WS Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-44
Polarization Mo de Disp ersion . . . . . . . . . 2-44
Polarization modes . . ...........2-44
General eects ...............2-44
Mo de coupling ........... . . . .2-44
PMD units ..... . . . ........2-45
Optimizing the setup for ber or comp onen
ttest .2-45
W
a
v
elength tuning range ..........2-45
Analysis mo de .......... . ....2-45
Minimum feature size .. . .........2-46
Statistical c
haracterization of ber PMD ...2-46
PDL Measuremen
t: Jones Matrix Metho d.....2-47
Basic Measuremen
t....... . . . .....2-48
Setting up the System . . ..........2-48
External Source Preparation ..........2-49
Making the Measuremen
t...........2-52
Saving the Measurement Results . . . . . . . . 2-54
PDL Measurement: Power Max-Min Method . . . 2-55
Basic Measurement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-56
Setting up the System . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-56
External Source Preparation . . . . . . . . . . 2-57
Making the Measuremen
t.......... . 2-57
Sa
ving the Measuremen
tResults . . ......2-59
Jones Matrix Measuremen
t......... . .2-60
Basic Measuremen
t. ... . . . . . . . . . . . 2-61
Setting up the System . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-61
External Source Preparation . .. .. . . . . . 2-62
Measurement Pro cedure . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-63
Establish the Polarization Reference Frame . . 2-63
Making the Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . 2-64
Concepts ...................2-67
The Relativ
eJones Matrix ......... . .2-67
The sign of s3 ................2-67
Description of the Jones Matrix Measuremen
t
Algorithm ................2-67
Contents-3

Application of the Jones Matrix . . . . . . . . 2-68
Timed Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-69
Polarization Maintaining Fib er Launch . . . . . . 2-69
Basic Measurement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-70
Setting up the System . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-70
External Source Preparation . . . . . . . . . . 2-71
Making the Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . 2-72
Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-74
Explanation of Polarization Maintaining Fib er
Launch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-74
Polarization Reference Frame . . . . . . . . . . 2-75
Basic Measurement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-76
Setting up the System . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-76
External Source Preparation . . . . . . . . . . 2-77
Cho osing the Polarizers . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-77
Setting the Reference Frame . . . . . . . . . . 2-78
Checking Reference Frame Quality . . . . . . . 2-78
Setting a Circular State of Polarization . . . . . 2-78
Using the Reference F
rame . .........2-79
Additional Measuremen
tApplications ......2-79
2pt and 3pt P
olarization Reference F
rames ..2-79
Measuremen
tof the Retardance of an Optical
Device . . ...............2-79
Measuremen
tof Output P
olarization of an Optical
In
tegrated Circuit .......... . .2-80
Measuring P
olarization State at a Connector
Surface .................2-80
Concepts ................ . ..2-81
Explanation of P
olarization Reference F
rame
Mathematics .. . . . ..........2-81
T
ransmission Ratio (3pt Reference F
rame) ....2-81
State of P
olarization Measuremen
ts ........2-82
Basic Measurement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-83
Setting up the System . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-83
External Source Preparation . . . . . . . . . . 2-84
Making the Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . 2-85
Measurement Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-85
Specialized Measuremen
tT
ec
hniques .......2-86
Measuring eectiv
edegree of polarization . ...2-86
Concepts ............ . ......2-87
Degree of P
olarization . .. . . . . . . . . . . 2-87
Electric Fields and P
olarization . . . . . . . . 2-87
Contents-4