Remote Control User Guide for the MX / MBX / TLX Series Chapter 2: Supported Commands
Rev. D, September 29, 2017 Page 7
2.2. Laser Control Commands
These commands are available for the TLX series of instruments and those MX series products with a built-in
tunable laser, which include the MX10B, MX40B, MX35E, and MX40G. In the following, “Laser” refers to the built-
in tunable laser, unless otherwise specified. Please note that the ITU channels are defined using a 50 MHz grid.
Be advised that there will be a delay between when requested laser state is specified in a “set” command and
when the requested state becomes the active laser state, as the instrument requires a finite period of time to
execute commands. Typical execution times are given in the following table for each relevant command. After
setting laser parameter(s), the LASER:SETpoint? command can be used to determine the laser’s active status.
Command Syntax Description
Set the ITU
Channel Number
LASER:CHANnel: N N is an integer from 1 and 96, inclusive, for the C-Band laser or
from 1 and 93, inclusive, for the L-Band laser. This command
sets the ITU channel of the laser and returns 1 on receipt of
command. While tuning to the desired channel, the laser’s optical
output may be temporarily reduced or turned off and then on.
Get the ITU
Channel Number
LASER:CHANnel? Returns an integer value from 1 and 96, inclusive, for a C-Band
laser or from 1 and 93, inclusive, for an L-Band laser. This
command returns the most recent requested ITU channel, which
may differ from the currently active ITU channel due to a typical
channel set time duration of <10 s. The LASER:SET? command
can be used to verify the last requested ITU channel is active.
Turn Dither On LASER:Dither: 1 Sets the laser dither to “on” and returns 1 on receipt of command.
Turn Dither Off LASER:Dither: 0 Sets the laser dither to “off” and returns 1 on receipt of command.
Get Dither Status LASER:Dither? Returns 0 if dither is set to “off” and 1 if dither is set to “on.” This
command returns the most recent requested dither state, which
may differ from the currently active dither state due to a typical
dither set time duration of <10 s. The LASER:SET? command
can be used to verify the last requested dither state is active.
Set Fine Tuning
Frequency Offset
LASER:FINE: N N is an integer between -30,000 and 30,000, inclusive. The
entered value is the frequency offset in MHz, and 1 is returned on
receipt of command. Sending this command causes the laser
frequency to be tuned to the sum of the current ITU channel
frequency and this specified fine tuning frequency offset. The
range of fine tuning frequency offsets spans the full frequency
range between ITU channels.
Get Fine Tuning
Frequency Offset
LASER:FINE? Returns an integer between -30,000 and 30,000, inclusive,
corresponding to the requested frequency offset in MHz. This
value may differ from the current frequency offset due to a typical
laser tuning time duration of <30 s. There is currently no accurate
way to determine, via remote control, whether a fine-tuning
operation has finished. However, other laser status information
can be obtained using:
LASER:FREQ?
LASER:SET?
LASER:OOP?
Get Optical Laser
Frequency
LASER:FREQ? Returns a floating point value with unit of GHz. the reported
optical laser frequency, which is determined by the ITU channel
(LASER:CHAN:N) and fine offset (LASER:FINE:N). As the
resolution of the returned value is limited to 0.1 GHz (100 MHz),
the values of the intermediate frequencies set using the fine-
tuning feature are reported rounded to the nearest 0.1 GHz.
