JGR PDL 5 User manual

PDL5 PDL/IL/BR Multimeter
User Manual
All information contained herein is believed to be accurate and is subject to
change without notice. No responsibility is assumed for its use.
JGR Optics Inc, 2014.

PDL5 User Manual
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
COMPLIANCE ............................................................................................................1
FDA-CDRH COMPLIANCE .....................................................................................................1
CSA /IEC COMPLIANCE........................................................................................................1
COMPLIANCE .........................................................................................................................2
GENERAL INFORMATION ......................................................................................3
PDL5 PDL/IL/BR MULTIMETER OVERVIEW ..........................................................................3
MEASUREMENTS ....................................................................................................................4
Polarization Dependent Loss Measurement .........................................................4
Backreflection Measurement ..................................................................................4
Loss and Power Measurement ...............................................................................5
OUTPUT PORT.......................................................................................................................5
HYBRID JUMPER ....................................................................................................................6
COHERENCE LENGTH .............................................................................................................6
KEY FEATURES ......................................................................................................................6
APPLICATIONS.......................................................................................................................6
ACCESSORIES........................................................................................................................7
OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES .......................................................................................................7
SAFETY INFORMATION ..........................................................................................8
SAFETY MARKINGS ON THE UNIT ...........................................................................................8
CLASSIFICATION....................................................................................................................9
LASER SPECIFICATIONS .........................................................................................................9
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION ........................................................................................9
Laser Hazards ...........................................................................................................9
Electrical Shock Hazards .......................................................................................10
GETTING STARTED ................................................................................................12
INITIAL INSPECTION............................................................................................................12
OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS.............................................................................................13
PRODUCT OVERVIEW...........................................................................................................14
Front Panel and Key Description ..........................................................................14
Rear Panel ...............................................................................................................14
OPERATION .............................................................................................................17
POWERING UP THE METER ..................................................................................................17
BACKREFLECTION MEASUREMENTS .......................................................................................17
Set-up for BR Measurements ...............................................................................18
Measuring BR0 ........................................................................................................18
Measuring BR (Including Connector) ..................................................................19
Measuring BR (Excluding the Connector) ...........................................................21
Backreflection Accuracy and Range ....................................................................21
POLARIZATION DEPENDENT LOSS (PDL), LOSS AND POWER MEASUREMENTS .......................22
Set-Up for PDL, Loss and Power Measurements ...............................................22
Dark Current Measurement ..................................................................................24

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Measuring Absolute Power ................................................................................... 24
Measuring Relative Power .................................................................................... 25
Measuring ILa and Polarization Dependent Loss (PDL) ................................. 26
Power Accuracy ..................................................................................................... 27
TERMINATION TECHNIQUES ................................................................................................ 27
Mandrel Wrap Technique ..................................................................................... 28
USER MENU OPERATION..................................................................................................... 29
Accessing the User Menu ..................................................................................... 29
Navigating the User Menu .................................................................................... 29
MESSAGES AND SYMBOLS.................................................................................................... 31
CALIBRATION ..................................................................................................................... 32
Calibration Period .................................................................................................. 32
PROGRAMMING GUIDE ....................................................................................... 33
SETTING UP FOR RS-232, USB OR GPIB COMMUNICATION ................................................ 33
Accessing the “User Menu” mode ....................................................................... 33
Programming over GPIB ....................................................................................... 33
Programming Over RS-232 .................................................................................. 33
Programming Over USB ........................................................................................ 33
MAINTENANCE AND TROUBLESHOOTING ..................................................... 35
MAINTENANCE .................................................................................................................... 35
Cleaning the Unit ................................................................................................... 35
Cleaning the Connector Ends .............................................................................. 35
Cleaning Jumper Connectors ............................................................................... 36
TROUBLESHOOTING ............................................................................................................ 37
Connector Issues ................................................................................................... 37
PDL5 Calibration Issues ........................................................................................ 37
Loss and Reflection issues ................................................................................... 38
Long Cables (for single-mode model only) ........................................................ 39
Laser Stability ......................................................................................................... 39
Polarization Controller Issues .............................................................................. 39
STORAGE AND SHIPPING ................................................................................... 41
RETURNING INSTRUMENTS TO JGR OPTICS......................................................................... 41
CONTACT INFORMATION ..................................................................................................... 42
SPECIFICATIONS .................................................................................................. 43
REMOTE CONTROL COMMANDS........................................................................ 45
COMMAND SYNTAX AND STYLE............................................................................................ 45
Program Message Formats .................................................................................. 45
Terminating a Program Message ........................................................................ 45
Command Header Variations ............................................................................... 45
Specifying the Command Path ............................................................................ 46
Default Commands ................................................................................................ 46
Implemented Status Structures .......................................................................... 47
QUEUES ............................................................................................................................. 50

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Input Queue ............................................................................................................50
Output Queue .........................................................................................................50
Error Queue ............................................................................................................51
DESCRIPTION OF ERROR NUMBERS ......................................................................................51
IEEE 488.2 COMMON COMMANDS AND THE SCPI COMMAND TREE .....................................53
IEEE 488.2 Common Commands .........................................................................53
SCPI Command Tree .............................................................................................54
DESCRIPTION OF INDIVIDUAL COMMANDS............................................................................56
IEEE-488.2 Common Commands .........................................................................56
SCPI Commands .....................................................................................................60
JGR Legacy Device Specific Commands .............................................................69
JGR Device-Specific Command Description ........................................................70

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COMPLIANCE
FDA-CDRH Compliance
Under the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Devices and
Radiological Health (CDRH), the unit complies with the Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR), Title 21, Subchapter J, which pertains to laser safety and
labeling. See the link below for more information.
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?CF
RPartFrom=1000&CFRPartTo=1050
CSA / IEC Compliance
The unit complies with certain standards of the Canadian Standards Association
(CSA) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
The unit falls in the Installation Category (Overvoltage Category) II under IEC 664.
IEC 664 relates to impulse voltage levels and insulation coordination. The
particular category is defined as: local level, appliances, portable equipment, etc,
with smaller transient overvoltages than Installation Category (Overvoltage
Category) III.
The unit falls in the Pollution Degree 2 category under IEC 1010-1 and CAN/CSA-
C22.2 No. 1010.1. The IEC standard on Safety Requirements for Electrical
Equipment for Measurement, Control, and Laboratory Use relates to insulation
coordination. The CSA standard is on Safety Requirements for Electrical
Equipment for Measurement Control, and Laboratory Use, Part I: General
Requirements. The Pollution Degree 2 category is defined as follows: “Normally
only non-conductive pollution occurs. Occasionally, however, a temporary
conductivity caused by condensation must be expected.”

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Compliance
Electronic test equipment is subject to the EMC Directive in the European
Union. The EN61326 standard prescribes both emission and immunity
requirements for laboratory, measurement, and control equipment. This unit
has undergone extensive testing according to the European Union Directive and
Standards.

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GENERAL INFORMATION
PDL5 PDL/IL/BR Multimeter Overview
The PDL5 PDL/IL/BR Meter is a portable, direct-display instrument that
measures polarization dependent loss (PDL), insertion loss (IL), backreflection
(BR) and power of single-mode fiberoptic devices (i.e. connectors, components,
and systems).
The PDL5 multimeter may be ordered with up to four internal laser sources for
operation at 1310, 1490, 1550, 1625 and/or 1650 nm. A variety of detector
adapters are available to enable the measurement of power (i.e. IL) from
different connector types.
Figure 1: PDL5 PDL/IL/BR Multimeter
An important feature of the PDL5 multimeter is the FC/APC ultra-low
backreflection connector at its output port. To test different connector types,
the user needs only to change the hybrid launch jumpers, of which one side has
a FC/APC connector, and the other connector type to be tested. The connector’s
end face condition is very important as it directly affects the performance of the
meter.
The PDL5 multimeter is supplied with two hybrid jumpers. The first one, called
measurement jumper, is to be used for every measurement and the second one,
called calibrated jumper, is to be used for calibration verification only.

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To ensure measurement quality, only calibration jumpers provided by JGR
Optics should be used. However, additional measurement jumpers may be
supplied by the customer, third parties or JGR Optics.
In addition to manual front panel operation, the PDL5 multimetermeter may be
operated over the RS-232 serial interface and IEEE 488 GPIB parallel interface.
Please refer to the “REMOTE CONTROL COMMANDS” section on page 45 for
more information.
Measurements
Polarization Dependent Loss Measurement
The PDL5 Multimeter can be configure to use the 4-state or 6-state Mueller
matrix method to measure PDL of the DUT.
In the 4-state matrix calculation method, transmission measurements are
performed at four orthogonal states of polarization, normally 0, 45 and 90
degree linear states are used along with a right-hand circular state.
One method to determine the PDL of a component is to calculate the insertion
loss of all the possible polarization states to a given resolution and take the
difference between the minimum (ILmin) and maximum (ILmax) insertion losses
as the PDL. The PDL5 multimeter calculates the PDL and average loss (ILavg)
analytically, using the values in the first row of the Mueller matrix.
Although the PDL and average loss are displayed in decibels (dB), the average
loss is the average transmission converted to decibels. Thus, the average loss of
an ideal polarizer is 3 dB = [-10 log (0.5)].
Generally, the minimum and maximum insertion losses can be calculated using
the following formulas:
ILmin = ILavg + 10 log [(1+10(-PDL/10))/2] dB and ILmax = ILmin + PDL dB
However, for small PDLs the following formulas are used:
ILmin = ILavg - PDL/2 dB and ILmax = ILavg + PDL/2 dB.
When increased accuracy on PDL measurement is required, it is possible to
select the 6-state Mueller matrix method. Measurement time will be longer
however as the internal polarization controller has to generate two additional
polarization states: -45 degree linear state and left-hand circular state.
Backreflection Measurement
The PDL5 is an easy to use instrument that can measure both insertion loss and
backreflection parameters. In Backreflection mode, the PDL5 measures the
difference between the output power (Pout) and the reflected power (Prefl) and
automatically calculates and displays the backreflection.