Passive optical component testing platform | CTP10

Key Features

Optical (IL, PDL, RL) & photocurrent characterization using swept wavelength technique

Industry-first full-band PDL measurement from 1260 to 1620 nm

Unique mix of high dynamic range, accuracy, sub-picometer resolution and test speed

Integrated solution with embedded GUI and built-in analysis

Scalable architecture for R&D and manufacturing environments

Dual operation: Optical triggering using dedicated module / Electrical triggering using logging functionality

Applications

Spectral characterization of integrated photonic components at sub-picometer resolution

Multiple-output passive optical component testing in manufacturing and R&D

WSS and ROADM calibration and tests

Thin film filters (TFF) characterization

Logging function for transient phenomenon

Spectral characterization using electrical trigger from tunable laser

Description

The CTP10 is a modular passive optical component testing platform that combines speed, accuracy and flexibility. It offers reliable high-quality insertion loss (IL), return loss (RL) or polarization-dependent loss (PDL) measurement regardless of wavelength range or spectral characteristics of the device under test. It operates together with EXFO’s series of swept tunable lasers to perform these measurements within seconds and can be configured to acquire photocurrent measurements directly from external photodiodes.

Thanks to its modular configuration, it is the ideal instrument to characterize large port count components used in WDM networks and photonic integrated circuits (PIC).

Next-gen platform and modules

Thanks to its innovative approach, the CTP10 also greatly reduces setup time and simplifies spectral characterization by taking care of many complex operations. Indeed, tunable laser sweep, data collection and processing for IL, RL or PDL, trace display and analysis are all performed from a single instrument.

The CTP10 platform is compatible with a selection of key modules for spectral characterization (IL PDL & IL PDL OPM2 modules or IL RL OPM2), wavelength control (SCAN SYNC and FBC modules), optical detection (OPMx module) and photocurrent meters (PCMx module). These fully integrated modules are hot-swappable and quickly reconfigurable to greatly reduce setup time and provide a flexible and evolutive test solution.

The CTP10 can also be set up to receive external triggers coming from a tunable laser and record optical power or photocurrent as a function of wavelength. In this configuration, the CTP10 only requires OPMLite or PCM modules. The resolution, accuracy and repeatability of the measurement lies with the laser, but the setup benefits from the detectors single gain range and fast averaging time. Additional capabilities include optical power time-logging suited for capturing optical transient phenomenon and analog signal output suited for automated optical alignment processes.

The CTP10 has an embedded operating system for handling and processing large amounts of data. It also offers a scalable architecture by sharing one or several tunable lasers among up to 8 test stations and by adding a secondary mainframe for 100+ ports testing.

Unparalleled performance

The CTP10 offers uncompromising performance and maintains best-in-class specifications at full speed over the full wavelength range of operation with an integrated setup. This combination of speed, accuracy, integration and spectral coverage is unprecedented on the market and ideal as a future-proof testing solution on next generation components such as wavelength selective switches (WSS) or ring-resonators.

The SCAN SYNC module provides a dynamic wavelength measurement with a sampling resolution down to 20 fm and excellent repeatability.

The range-free series of OPMx optical detectors can measure a dynamic range of >70 dB in a single sweep at 100 nm/s with 1 pm resolution. This ability substantially increases manufacturing and R&D throughput. OPMx detectors can also accurately measure extremely sharp spectral features of up to 10 dB/pm (10,000 dB/nm). PCMx photocurrent meters perform equally well when performing tasks such as measuring large current fluctuations coming from PIC-embedded photodiodes. The OPMLite are also particularly suited for detection scheme where tunable laser is connected directly to the power meter for spectral characterization.

Powerful intuitive GUI

The CTP10 has been developed around three key principles: integration, performance and automation. Its embedded software offers a powerful and intuitive GUI that seamlessly controls the measurement process to let you focus on what really matters: measurement data and analysis. Additionally, the CTP10 offers full remote control via SCPI‑compatible commands.