N7786B Keysight Polarization Synthesizer

Key Benefits

• Comprehensive polarization stability/control/switching capabilities

• No reset/continuous operation

• Includes the entire range from 1.3 μm window to L-band

• Compact form factor

Applications

• Transmission system testing: polarization sensitivity analysis of link/transmission quality

• Loop cycle test: Loop synchronous polarization scrambling

• Interferometry: Polarization stability at maximum contrast ratio

The Keysight N7786B polarization synthesizer includes a lithium niobate-based high-speed polarization controller and a polarization analyzer, as well as a microcontroller-based driver circuit.

It can operate in a variety of modes.

As a polarization stabilizer, it provides a stable output state of polarization (SOP) even in the presence of fluctuations and drifts in the input SOP. A standard single-mode fiber (SMF) can direct a stable output signal. Output SOPs can be defined by

Set-and-forget: When the front panel button is pressed, the current SOP is stored and maintained even if there is a polarization change in the instrument input.

Defined Stokes parameter: The user can use the Stokes parameter to define the target output SOP as a synchronous scrambler, which converts the SOP of the output signal by a (pseudo) random method with a cyclic speed of up to 100 KSOPs/s. The SOP conversion takes only a few microseconds. An electronic trigger input can be used to keep the scrambler synchronized with external events.

As a SOP converter, the Keysight N7786B cycles through SOP sequences with speeds greater than 40 KHz, which corresponds to a cycle time of less than 25 microseconds. The user can easily define SOP sequences using Stokes factors.

It can reach the full range of a Pongaree ball in milliseconds.