N7700A Photonic Application Suite

The N7700A Photonic Application Suite is a collection of advanced and basic software tools for making optical measurements, controlling fiberoptic instruments, and analyzing measurement results.

• N7700A Package Manager: select, install and maintain N7700A software packages
• Main Package: analyze results in a powerful Viewer, save results in viewable format
• IL Engine: measure IL vs. wavelength with a tunable laser and power meters
• Fast Spectral Loss Engine: calibrate and adjust devices at repetition rates up to 10x faster than the IL engine
• IL&PDL Engine: measure IL and PDL vs. wavelength with the advanced single-sweep Mueller method
• Polarization Navigator: use N778x polarization analysis and control instruments
• Drivers, firmware, documents, N77xx Viewer: keep equipment and guides up to date

It’s easy to try it out and get started with your own uses. Start by downloading and installing the small setup program for the Package Manager, which will support installation of the desired software packages. You can also request evaluation licenses, if needed, from this link:

Download Photonic Application Suite and/or Evaluation License File

For easy installation on computers or instruments without internet access, please see the Technical Support tab above.

The N7700A Photonic Application Suite Main Package
is distributed free and provides a powerful File Viewer program for analyzing measurement data. It has been designed for sharing measurement results throughout entire development teams or manufacturing groups. The library functions in this package also allow your programs to read and save data in the .omr file format for analysis with the File Viewer.

• Display and overlay of traces from multiple
  channels and multiple measurement files
• Scale switching between wavelength and frequency
• Display of tabular analysis
• Markers, zooming and analysis features of associated measurement engines
• File loading, saving and data export
• Direct launching of Excel and Matlab with data 

The N7700A IL/PDL Engine uses an advanced routine to measure polarization dependent loss and insertion loss spectra on one or multiple channels. The unique single-sweep Mueller Matrix routine reduces measurement time and is very robust against environmental disturbance like fiber movement and temperature drift, while maintaining high IL dynamic range, wavelength accuracy and freedom from bandwidth-limited distortions.

In addition to the measured IL and PDL traces, the Mueller Matrix data can be exported and analyzed to provide the polarization resolved IL traces for the device axes (TE/TM). See brochure for hardware details.

The IL/PDL Engine now supports automated switching of multiple lasers for extended wavelength range and polarization averaged return loss. The COM interface supports automated use. Devices with integrated photodiodes, like phase-shift demodulation receivers can also be measured with Keysight’s special N7745A-E02 with photocurrent inputs in the same setup. The software engine will determine spectra of photocurrent and wavelength responsivity as well as responsivity as TE vs. TM resolution. A bias voltage can also be applied to the photodiodes.
IL/PDL License available for purchase as N7700A-100. The program can be used free for 30 days and a free 60 day evaluation license can also be obtained from the download link.

The Fast Spectral Loss Engine provides insertion loss and power spectra at enhanced repetition rate compared to the basic IL Engine and is a valuable tool for tuning and calibrating devices with near real-time feedback. By making optimal use of the instrument features, repetition rates can be improved by as much as a factor 10. This engine is especially powerful in combination with the 81960A tunable laser which provides bidirectional sweeps and speeds up to 200 nm/s as well. Repetition rates of 1 to 3 scans per second can be attained, depending on the sweep range.

FSIL License available for purchase as N7700A-102. The program can be used free for 30 days and a free 60 day evaluation license can also be obtained from the download link.

The IL Engine performs very accurate swept-wavelength insertion loss measurements. This is a convenient GUI implementation of the widely used 816x Plug&Play MFlambdascan functionality. This can be used with all Keysight continuously swept tunable lasers, 816-series power sensor modules and heads and the N7744A and N7745A power meters. No license required.

The Filter Analysis package performs analysis of measurements from the IL/PDL and IL engines for narrow-band components like filters and multiplexers. Analysis parameters include peak and center wavelength, wavelength offset from ITU grid, IL at ITU wavelength and center wavelength, bandwidth and channel isolation from adjacent and non-adjacent channels. Pass-bands of filters, interleavers and demodulators can be analyzed for PDf and PDλ. A convenient peak search function is also included.
License available for purchase as N7700A-101.

The Polarization Navigator package provides all the tools needed for your work with N778x polarization analysis and control instruments: measurement of Stokes parameters and degree of polarization (DOP) with representation on the Poincaré sphere, PER measurement, long-term monitoring, spike analysis, etc. Various functions for control, switching and scrambling the polarization of optical signals are also provided. The Polarization Navigator also makes robust single-sweep PMD, PDL and IL measurements with the N7788B and a tunable laser. Installation needs the N7700A main package. No license required.

The N4150A Keysight Photonic Foundation Library optimizes the speed of repeated tunable laser sweeps for real-time applications and provides multichannel IL and PDL measurements using the 8169A polarization controller and 4-sweep Mueller Matrix method. This updated version supports the N7744A and N7745A and is integrated with the N7700A Photonic Application Suite for use with the new automation controls for display.
License available for purchase as N7700A-200.