The patented method of Apex Technologies complex spectrum analyzers is designed for short pulses, chirp and phase measurements up to 640Gb/s.

AP2440A SERIES Download PDF data sheet
AP2440B SERIES Download PDF data shee
AP2440B Options

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Advantage of this method

Time resolved chirp measurement
Time resolved phase mesurement
Short pulses characterization

Constellation display
Ultra-high resolution optical spectrum analysis
Eye diagram

While optical spectrum analyzer can only measure power of a modulated signals, Apex Technologies complex spectrum analyzer is able to measure also the optical phase. With the power and the phase in function of the wavelength, it is possible by Fourrier transform to calculate :

Principle block diagram

Documentation request :
Complex spectral analysis principle

The time resolution of the complex spectrum analysis method is given by the wavelength range measured. With its 110nm wavelength range, AP2043B can achieve a maximum temporal resolution of 75fs (+/-6THz), while a sampling oscilloscope can achieve only a maximum bandwidth of +/-65GHz! It makes this method ideal for high bit rate modulation characterization (from 2.5Gb/s up to 320Gb/s and more...)

Time resolved chirp is an important parameter to predict the performance of transmitters in network systems. Especially for chirp measurements at high bit rates, the AP2440series is the best solution in regard to accuracy, repeatability and measurement speed, in addition it measures the optical pulse shape at the same time. For mach-zhender modulator measurements, the AP2040B converts the measured chirp into the Alfa parameter without any additional interaction. Any kind of chirp (transient or adiabatic chirp) can be measured with AP2440 series.

Several new modulation formats use intensity but also phase modulation in long distance optical transmission. Currently Apex Technologies' AP2440series complex spectrum analyzer is the only instrument able to measure these phase modulations, which means it is finally possible to characterize directly phase modulation in a DPSK, QPSK, Duo-binary... modulation.

A practical way to display intensity and phase modulated signals is by means of a constellation display. In this graph, the X scale is the real axis and the Y scale is the imaginary axis. The quality of the signal can easily be evaluated in this way.

The AP2040B can be used as an ultra high resolution OSA like its brother, the AP2040A series. Modulation spectral efficiency is accessible with a resolution down to 20MHz (0.16pm) giving access to a lots of details.

Technical bulletin n°2 : New applications of Ultra High-Resolution (0.16pm) Optical Spectrum Analyzer
Technical bulletin n°3 : Ultra-high resolution optical spectrum analyzer
Technical bulletin N°5 : DFB relaxation oscillation measurement with an ultra high resolution optical spectrum analyzer

Documentation request :
Ultra high resolution optical spectrum analyzer principle
Effects of chirp induction mechanism on spectral broadening in LiNbO3 modulators

The eye diagram can be displayed with the AP2440series.

Instead of using the FFT to calculate the time domain information, the AP2440series can also display the complex spectrum (Intensity and phase in function of the wavelength (or frequency)). This functionality can be use for group delay measurement, chromatic dispersion measurement, cryptography applications,...

The polarization diversity design of the AP2040B series Optical Complex Spectrum Analyzers has a unique built-in feature, designed to analyze two orthogonally polarized independent modulated signals, permitting life measurements of two orthogonal polarization states simultaneously. This functionality can be use to measure Pol-Mux signals.