Optical Power Meter Guide

Optical power meters and detectors have been served by Newport for over 30 years. The offering ranges from a low cost, hand-held meter to the most advanced dual channel benchtop power meter available in the market. Our 1936-R/2936-R series boasts state-of-the-art analog boards with a whopping 250 kHz sampling rate and femtowatt level resolution, easily dwarfing competition. ILX Lightwave offers and a unique optical power/wavelength meter for accurate optical power measurement with wavelength measurement and a precision fiber optic power meter for test measurement of fiber optic components. Note that Newport and ILX Lightwave products are not cross-compatible.

Selecting an Optical Power and Energy Meter

See our Optical Power Meters to browse our standard models, or select a product series below to learn more about our products and capabilities. We also offer a complete line of Low Power Sensors, Laser Power Sensors, Laser Energy Sensors, and specialty sensors such as the PEPS Series Power & Position Sensors and LIAD Series Lock-in Amplifier Detectors. Power Meter Kits are a good choice for basic power measurements. However, once you have a kit, it is easy to extend the capabilities by purchasing another detector or a meter Newport offers.

Benchtop Power & Energy Meters

Benchtop optical power meters provide accurate measurements of optical power and energy by reading the output of calibrated optical sensors. Our benchtop optical power and energy meters are plug and play compatible with our wide range of calibrated optical sensors for the highly accurate and repeatable optical measurements required in challenging applications.

Handheld Power & Energy Meters

Handheld optical power meters provide accurate measurements of optical power and energy by reading the output of calibrated optical sensors. Our handheld optical power and energy meters are plug and play compatible with our wide range of calibrated optical sensors for the highly accurate and repeatable optical measurements required in challenging applications.

Virtual Power & Energy Meters

Virtual optical power meters use the power of your PC to measure an optical sensor at a lower cost than an optical power meter with it's included display.

Power Measurement Kits

Newport’s industry-renowned optical power meters and detectors are available as cost-effective bundles, simplifying product selection and ordering process.
Model 1936-R / 2936-R FPM-8220 1919-R 844-PE-USB
Brand Newport ILX Lightwave Newport Newport
Instrument Type Benchtop Benchtop Hand-held, portable Computer interface only
Channels 1 / 2 1 1 1
Photodiode Detector Compatible
Thermal Detector Compatible 919P Series only 919P Series only
Pyro Detector Compatible 818E Series only (obsolete) 919E Series only 919E Series only
Analog Output (converted from digitized values)
Analog Bandwidth Up to 400 kHz 15 Hz 15 Hz
Data Storage 250,000 pts internal via USB memory and PMManager™ Via PMManager™
Measurement rate per second 10,000 15 (Up to 5,000 for pyro) 15
Trigger In/Out
Computer Interface USB, RS-232 GPIB, USB USB, RS-232 USB
PC Software PMA* PMManager PMManager
Field Upgradable Firmware
CW or Averaging Measurements
Pulse or Peak-to-peak (photodiode) (pyro) (pyro)
Frequency Measurement
Wavelength Measurement
Filters Analog and Averaging Averaging Averaging
Statistics Via PMManager™

Note:  indicates that the feature is available. –R power meters are RoHS compliant version of legacy -C models.
* PMA means Newport Power Meter Application software.

Power Meter Measurement Modes

843-R 844-PE-USB 1919-R 1830-R 1936-R/2936-R
Photodiode Power Power Power
Exposure
Power Power
Peak-to-peak power
RMS power
919P Series Power
Single shot energy
Power
Single shot energy
Power
Single shot energy
Pulse power
Not compatible Power
Single shot energy
919E Series Power
Energy
Power
Energy
Exposure
Power
Energy
Exposure
Not compatible Not compatible
PEPS Power
Single shot energy
Track (Position)
Power
Single shot energy
Track (Position + Stability)
Power
Single shot energy
Track (Position + Stability)
Pulsed Power
Not compatible Not compatible
LIAD Power Power Power Not compatible Not compatible

Optical Meter Display Units

The Newport power meters can provide the readings in various units, depending on the types of the detectors used.

Display Units 1936-R/2936-R 1830-R FPM-8220 OMM-6810B 1919-R 843-R 843-R-USB 844-PE-USB
W
dB
dBm
J
V
A
REL Via PMManager™
W/cm2
J/cm2
SUN*

Notes: indicates that the specified unit is available.
* Available measurement units are dependent on the detector type. The SUN unit is only available with 818P series thermopile detectors.