Optical Fiber Power Meter Nonlinearity Calibrations at NIST

Abstract

We describe a system for measuring the response nonlinearity of optical fiber power meters and detectors over a wide power dynamic range at telecommunication wavelengths. The system uses optical fiber components and is designed to accommodate commonly used optical fiber power meters. The system also measures the range discontinuities between neighboring power ranges or scale settings of the optical fiber power meter. Measurements with this system yield correction factors for all power ranges of the meter. The measurement system is capable of producing results which have standard deviations as low as 0.01 %. The measurement uncertainties associated with the system are described.