Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A - News) today introduced the industry’s first time-domain based optical modulation analyzer offering in-depth analysis of amplitude and phase-modulated optical signals. This optical test instrument was developed in close cooperation with Agilent Laboratories, the central research arm of Agilent Technologies. It is based on wide-bandwidth, polarization-diverse coherent optical receiver technology, the Agilent 89600 vector signal analysis software (VSA), and Agilent’s high-speed real-time data acquisition unit called the Infiniium Series 90000 oscilloscope. Agilent will unveil the N4391A at OFC/NFOEC 2009, San Diego Convention Center, Calif., Booth 1719, March 23-26.

It is the first time-domain-analysis-based coherent detection system and offers highest flexibility and in-depth analysis of amplitude and phase modulated optical signals in a turn-key solution, allowing scientists and engineers to rapidly test their ideas.

Since the broad deployment of the Internet, service providers have seen a continuous increase in demand for transmission capability. This is driving today’s transmission rates of 10 Gb/s toward 40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s in the next few years.

The challenge put to the optical industry is how to fit a transmission rate of 100 Gb/s into the legacy 50 GHz ITU-T channel grid. The only way to overcome this challenge is to leverage complex modulation techniques from the wireless and RF microwave world, which solved this problem at lower data rates two decades ago. The solution is to take advantage of the significant dense packaging of information afforded with advanced optical modulation schemes, reducing the necessary transceiver bandwidth.

“This is exactly the kind of test instrument that fills the gap for the optical industry, as engineers can now gain deep insight into the behavior of transmitters and links operating with advanced optical modulation schemes,” said Niall Robinson, vice president of product marketing at Mintera Corp.

Agilent Technologies Inc.