Arden Photonics has introduced its MPX-SR3 Fiber Shaker, a companion to the company’s Modal Explorer for encircled flux testing. Standards such as IEEE 802.3aq and FOTP–203 call for the use of a fiber shaker when performing encircled flux testing of laser-based transmission light sources for multimode systems to avoid "speckle."
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The MPX-SR3 is designed to reduce speckle by changing the differential path length of the various modes in the fiber. The fiber is shaken continuously during the measurement to enable the speckle to be averaged out. This will ensure sufficient repeatability for the measurement of the encircled flux, contends Arden.
The MPX-SR3 Fiber Shaker has two channels. One channel accommodates OM1 (62.5/125-µm graded-index multimode fiber) and the other OM2 (50/125-µm graded-index multimode fiber). Each channel has an input and output port fitted with FC/PC connectors as standard.