OREANDA-NEWS. November 20, 2012.   Yokogawa Meters & Instruments Corporation announces that it will release the AQ6150 and AQ6151 optical wavelength meters on November 20. These meters are among the fastest instruments of this type and are capable of simultaneously measuring up to 1,024 wavelengths, for unrivaled measurement efficiency.
Development Background

The rapid increase in the use of the Internet, smartphones, terrestrial digital broadcasting, and other communications services and devices requires the transmission of vast volumes of data at ever increasing speeds. This is leading to accelerated expansion of core networks (backbone) and metro networks (local area) as well as the construction of data centers. In line with these trends, production of optical transmission systems and the various optical devices that make up these systems is being ramped up, and this is spurring market demand for precise yet efficient optical wavelength test instruments. In addition, fixed wavelength optical sources are being replaced by tunable optical sources as they become more compact and affordable. Therefore, precise optical wavelength meters are required that can accurately measure signals of various wavelengths.

With their capability to simultaneously measure up to 1,024 wavelengths with best-in-class speed and accuracy, the newly developed AQ6150 and AQ6151 optical wavelength meters provide the high performance and measurement efficiency that the market requires.
Product Features
Industry-leading speed and accuracy
 Compared to other optical wavelength meters with multi-wavelength measurement capability, the AQ6150 and AQ6151 are among the fastest instruments on the market today, requiring just 0.3 seconds to measure, analyze, and transfer the result. This is more than three times faster than our previous models. The AQ6150 and AQ6151 will thus greatly improve throughput in applications such as the production of tunable optical sources where every source is subject to several hundred measurements for adjustment and inspection.

 The AQ6150 (standard model) achieves ±1 pm wavelength accuracy, while the AQ6151 (high- accuracy model) achieves ±0.3 pm. The standard model features three times the accuracy of our previous standard model.
Simultaneous measurement of up to 1,024 wavelengths: highest in the industry
 The AQ6150 and AQ6151 can measure up to 1,024 different wavelengths at the same time. They are thus well suited for measuring the output wavelengths of dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM)*1  systems and are also used on laser device production lines to improve efficiency by simultaneously measuring the output of multiple devices.
Reduced lifecycle cost
 In addition to low initial cost, the maintenance costs over the entire lifecycle of these products are expected to be lower due to the long replacement cycle of the built-in reference optical source*2  and the availability of an inexpensive replacement service.

Major Target Markets

Developers and manufacturers of optical devices/modules such as laser diodes and optical transceivers; developers and manufacturers of optical transmission systems
Applications

Wavelength measurement of WDM transmission systems, optical devices such as distributed feedback lasers (DFB)*3  , tunable lasers, Fabry-Perot lasers, and optical transceivers
*1 A fiber-optic transmission technology that multiplexes light signals having different wavelengths on a single optical fiber
*2 An optical source that emits light of very stable optical wavelengths and is used as a reference when optical wavelength meters measure other wavelengths. Depending on the usage conditions, such devices must normally be replaced every few years.
*3 A semiconductor laser with a long coherence length that is thus suitable for long-distance transmissions