Yokogawa announced the release of the AQ6374 at the Photonics West Exhibition 2017 in San Francisco, CA. The successor to the Yokogawa and ANDO-branded AQ6315A wideband optical spectrum analyzer, the AQ6374 offers faster measurements and a purging feature for general-purpose optical testing over 350-1750 nm range. Featuring diffraction grating based monochromator technology delivering precision measurement performance and accuracy, an enhanced user interface and an air purging feature, the instrument offers engineers a benchtop tool for general-purpose optical spectrum measurements over the wavelength range from 350 to 1750 nm.
By inheriting and enhancing the control technologies originally developed for the AQ6370 series, the AQ6374 model achieves superior operability and measurement speeds up to 40 times that achieved by the AQ6315A. The ability to sample 100001 points of data (100 times as much as the AQ6315A) enables measurement over a broad wavelength range with high resolution, while data-transfer rates during remote control via Ethernet are up to 100 times faster than for the AQ6315A.
The measurement performance achieved by the monochromator technology includes a wavelength resolution setting from 0.05 to 10 nm, a wavelength accuracy of ±0.05 nm (at 633 and 1523 nm) or ±0.2 nm (from 350 to 1700 nm), a level accuracy of ±1.0 dB, level sensitivity of -80 dBm (from 900 to 1600 nm), a measurable power range from -80 to +20 dBm, a close-in dynamic range of 60 dB (peak ±1.0 nm, resolution 0.05 nm), and a sweep time of less than 0.5 sec.
Internal data storage of 512 Mbyte is included, and external data storage is supported via a USB interface. Ethernet RJ-45 and GP-IB interfaces are also incorporated. A built-in calibration source is provided for a full-automatic optical alignment and wavelength calibration, which takes a few minutes.
The purging feature is designed to minimize the influence of water-vapor absorption on spectral measurements by continuously supplying a pure purge gas such as nitrogen (or just some dry air) to the monochromator through dedicated connectors on the back panel.
The AQ6374 features an ergonomically designed graphical user interface, incorporating elements such as a full text menu, aggregation of measurement conditions, display of a “hard key” menu that is the same as the panel layout, and a trace setting menu.
The AQ6374 is an Optical Spectrum Analyzer for those R&D teams who are testing light sources, optical filters and sensors operating in the visible range as well as in the telecom range of the spectrum.
