Power Meters Available From Stock
AMS Technologies carries a choice of shirt-pocket and handheld power meters available from stock that allow for quick and easy measuring the optical power of light exiting an optical fiber.
Our shirt-pocket fiber power meter with H3B InGaAs detector is a simple and reliable power meter for wavelengths from 800 nm to 1700 nm, suitable for measuring optical power in a range from +24 dB to +40 dB. The power meter can sustain a damage level of +27 dB for two minutes. The shirt-pocket fiber power meter variant equipped with H5 InGaAs detector (same wavelength range) allows to measure optical power between +15 dB and +50 dm and features a damage level of +25 dB.
For applications requiring a large area detector, our shirt-pocket power meter with 5 mm silicon detector (wavelength range 350 nm to 1100 nm) allows measuring up to 3 mm core diameter POF/PCS/HCS fiber, MTRJ connectors, and MPO/MP/MTP ribbon fiber connectors up to 72 fibers.
In a slightly larger form factor, our handheld InGaAs fiber power meter allows to test power, loss, continuity and faults on single mode (SM) fiber (up to 200 µm core diameter) systems – in a wavelength range from 1000 nm to 1650 nm and at up to +10 dBm.
Product Portfolio
AMS Technologies carries both inexpensive power meters in the visible and infrared for quick checking the transmission performance of a fiber optic link, and high-speed and high-precision measurement equipment suitable for thorough characterization of transient loss effects.
Miniature/Pocket Size Fiber Power Meters
A series of miniature-sized fiber power meters is available for a range of popular wavelengths, allowing the user to measure power levels from -60 dBm to +3 dBm. Just slightly larger, our series of pocket-style, high-resolution fiber optical power meters with a wide dynamic range covers a broad spectrum of wavelengths and allows remote control by a host PC using the meters’ USB or Bluetooth interface.
Test power and loss on all types of fiber optic systems with our inexpensive series of simple and reliable shirt-pocket optical power meters for field or laboratory use, covering a wide range of connector types, fiber types, common wavelengths and power levels. Due to the series’ tough construction (including moisture resistance, rubber corners and a captive connector dust cap) it can be dropped from over 2 m onto a hard surface. These shirt-pocket power meters are also available with large area optical detectors.
Handheld Size Fiber Power Meters
Compared to miniature-size and shirt-pocket devices, handheld fiber power meters feature a larger LCD screen and additional functionalities. Designed to integrate with the supplier’s fiber connector inspection systems, a series of handheld optical power meters is available that can store up to 999 readings and later download them to a PC via USB2.0 – creating an integrated 3-in-1 hand-held device that allows to inspect, clean, and test with one handheld unit.
With its user-friendly keypad and easy-to-read back-lit display, a further series of handheld fiber power meters offers high resolution and a wide dynamic range (-75 dBm to +10 dBm) over a broad wavelength spectrum. The meter’s extremely low power consumption allows extended operation in the field.
Our series of handheld fiber power meters measuring absolute or relative light levels and test tones with a combination of excellent basic accuracy, intuitive use and rugged reliability is used by professional installers and contractors to test power, loss, continuity and faults on all types of fiber optic systems. An autotest feature provides fast, easy and automatic multi-wavelength loss testing for up to six wavelengths. These handheld power meters are also available with large area optical detectors.
With a 100 dB dynamic range and high accuracy, the series of fiber inspection-ready handheld optical fiber power meters perfectly fits applications where low power or very high power needs to be measured. These power meters are also available with an integrated patch-cord microscope, combining pass/fail fiber inspection and optical power measurement into one solution.
OEM Power Meter Modules (No Built-in Display)
Our series of smart detector heads /optical power monitors comprises of miniature OEM modules without display or keys. These OEM instruments come in two form factors with a USB or RS232 interface and can be embedded in systems for remote power monitoring or used for long-term power logging in burn-in test stations.
Ideal for applications that require multiple detectors in a small space, a further series of smart detector heads in a miniature housing with RS232 and I2C interface (analog interface optional) can be used alone or in parallel with other devices to measure or monitor optical power. These meters can provide readings in W, dBm, dB, or relative (P/Pref). An optional hand-held display unit is available for controlling one or two detector heads.
Our OEM dB meter with analog and USB interface measures power stability and power changes across a wide dynamic range with high accuracy and high speed. Use the built-in stabilized 1550 nm light source for easy tests of passive components or local fiber loops.
AMS Technologies carries a series of power meter modules compatible with multiple application platforms, providing a range of panel-mount and remote head power meter configurations with up to 4 inputs per module. Based on InGaAs detectors, these modules are suitable for applications using SM or MM fiber.
Related Products
Complementing our fiber power meters, we offer a range of light sources for measurement applications as well as further equipment like an extensive range of fiber microscopes for every application and budget or a choice of interferometers that allow tests of optical fibers or patch cables in the laboratory as well as in the field.
Our range of devices for inspection and measurement of optical fibers and optical connectors also includes optical time domain reflectometers (OTDRs), interferometers, tools and systems for measuring passive optics and connectors, but also other fiber properties measurement devices like fiber analysers, tensile testers, or refractive index measurement services.
AMS Technologies’ further optical test and measurement offerings include beam profilers, integrating spheres, reflectance targets, spectrometers, spectrographs and spectroscopy cameras, as well as fiber sensing equipment.
Tools for fiber optics processing, dispensing and curing of optical adhesives and cleaning of optical connector surfaces round off the AMS Technologies range of solutions around optical test, tools and measurement.
Definition
Optical power meters are devices that measure the optical power in a beam of light (often a laser beam). Unlike free space optical power meters, fiber power meters (or fiber-coupled power meters) provide an interface for connecting optical fibers or patch cables and measure the optical power exiting the fiber.
As fiber power meters need to accept not only bare fiber but also the various types of optical connectors that are common in the industry, the quality of this fiber optic connector interface is important for accurate and reproducible measurements with a wide range of fiber and connector types, for which matching optomechanical adapters are usually available.
Fiber power meters contain an optical sensor (often a photodiode), usually based on Silicon, Germanium or Indium Gallium Arsenide (InGaAs), whose spectral bandwidth is selected, optimized and calibrated for the wavelength and power level to be measured. The maximum optical power to be measured must not exceed the destruction threshold of the sensor – usually a threshold value is defined together with the time this maximum optical power can be measured before causing damage to the sensor.
In addition to the sensor, fiber power meters have a measurement amplifier and – depending on the application and form factor – a display for showing the measurement results and for settings as well as buttons for user input. As universal "always with you" solutions, such measuring devices are available in miniature or shirt pocket format. Slightly larger handheld devices offer larger displays as well as usually more functions such as a memory for many individual measurements – helpful when measuring many fibers sequentially at different locations in the field.
For OEM applications and integration into larger optical systems, variants without a display are available, which provide measured values via analog and/or digital interfaces. In a rack-plug-in format, such solutions offer optical power measurement as a modular function for multi-purpose measurement systems.
Combined with a calibrated light source, fiber power sensors form an optical loss test set that can be used to determine the optical power and end-to-end losses of a fiber optic link.
Alternative Terms: Fiber Power Meter; Optical Power Meter; Shirt Pocket Power Meter; Handheld Power Meter; OEM Power Meter Module
