Fiber Optic Light Sources

Basic Optical Loss Testing Using an Optical Power Meter and Light Source

How to: Reference a Power Meter and Light Source

Introduction to an Optical Loss Test Set (OLTS)

How to Calibrate Optical Power Meter and Optical light Sourse Sets

A stable light source refers to a light source whose output optical power, wavelength, and spectral width are all stable. The stable light source emits light of known power and wavelength to the optical system. It is combined with an optical power meter to measure the optical loss of the optical fiber system. For the ready-made optical fiber system, the transmitting end equipment of the system can usually also be regarded as a stable light source. If the end equipment is not working or there is no end equipment, a separate stable light source is required. The wavelength of the stable light source should be as consistent as possible with the wavelength of the system terminal. After the system is installed, it is often necessary to measure the end-to-end loss to determine whether the connection loss meets the design requirements.

In order to measure the strength of an optical signal, the signal source must be at the other end of the cable. Although you can use a fiber optic power meter to measure signals generated by network equipment, accurately measuring the signal loss of a cable requires a consistent signal from a fiber optic test source. Complementing the power meters in the fiber optic toolkit, the test sources are also designed for specific types of networks. Light sources typically use LEDs (for multimode fiber) or lasers (for singlemode fiber) to generate a signal at a specific wavelength, and you should choose a unit that mimics the type of signal your network equipment uses.

As with the power meter, the light source must be able to connect to the cable being tested. Some light sources use fixed-use connector modular adapters, which require an adapter like a power meter, but fiber optic light sources usually have fixed connectors, and you need to prepare hybrid patch cords as needed.

Like power meters, light sources come in a variety of models. LED light sources are cheaper than laser light sources, but be careful with extremely cheap light sources. Some are only used to identify specific cables in a wiring harness using visible light. These devices are not suitable for testing signal loss in combination with a power meter.

Huihongfiber optical light sources are low cost and stable performance, they are useful and cost effective tools to help you in your optical fiber test work.

When using a stable light source, you must clarify the technical indicators, and choose a suitable light source according to your needs:

(1) Pay attention to the wavelength used, and the wavelength of the stable light source should match it.

(2) Light-emitting elements, output optical power and output stability are often considered comprehensively. Generally, the output optical power of a laser light source is large and the spectral line is narrow (this is especially important for some occasions that have strict requirements on spectral width), But less stable. However, the light output power of light-emitting diode light sources is small, and the spectral width is more than ten times or even dozens of times larger than that of LD light sources, but the stability is generally better than that of LD light sources. It should be fully considered according to the occasion of use.

(3) Generally, the light source is output by optical fiber coupling, so attention should be paid to the characteristics of the connecting optical fiber (whether it is single-mode or multi-mode), the type of connector and other issues. At the same time, it should be noted that the connector must be kept clean, and the dust cover must be covered when not in use. This is also a problem that all optical instruments should pay attention to.

(4) At the same time, attention should be paid to the modulation method of the stable light source, so as to select a suitable modulation signal when using external modulation.