Manually Variable Optical Delay Line

Optical Delay Line from General Photonics

The General Photonics VDL-001 is a manually controlled variable optical delay line. Multiple versions are available with path length of up to 1200 picoseconds. A low insertion loss and low variation of insertion loss is critical for most applications and the VDL-001 has less than ±1 dB variation even up to 1200 picoseconds. The delay line is packaged in a small aluminum box to prevent dust or noxious vapors from contaminating the optical path.

Delay is shown on the readout on the side (see below).

Features of the Optical Delay Line

• Highest delay to length ratio
• Optical delay up to 1200 ps
• Low insertion loss variation

Applications of the Optical Delay Line

• Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) systems
• Passive time division multiplexing
• TDM bit alignment
• Fiber interferometers

Specifications of the Optical Delay Line

• Operating Wavelength1
• SM fiber: 1260 to 1650 nm
• PM or double-pass: 1310 ± 50 or 1550 ± 50 nm
• Optical Delay Range
• 0 – 330 ps (single-pass model)
• 0 – 600 ps (single-pass model)
• 0 – 1200 ps (double-pass model)
• Readout Scale Resolution: 0.05 mm
• Insertion Loss
• 1.0 dB typical (single-pass)
• 1.5 dB typical (double-pass)
• Insertion Loss Variation
•  ±0.3 dB over entire range for 330 ps model
•  ±0.5 dB over entire range for 600 ps model
•  ±0.7 dB over entire range for 1200 ps model
• Return Loss: 50 dB
• Extinction Ratio: > 18 dB for PM model
• Optical Power Damage Threshold:  300 mW
• Operating Temperature: 0 to 40 °C
• Storage Temperature: -40 to 60 °C
• Fiber Type: SMF-28 or PM Panda fiber
• Dimensions:
• 1.0” × 2.1” × 4.2” for 330 ps model
• 1.0” × 2.1” × 6.0” for 600 or 1200 ps models

Notes

¹ Other wavelengths are available