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.

Model Features & Benefits
Power Meter Kits
PMKIT Power Measurement Kits
  • Kit includes a power meter, a detector, and mounting assembly
  • Choose between the pre-configured kit or a configurable PMKIT
  • Best value for industry proven products
  • Simple ordering process and great flexibility
  • Easily expandable for future application requirements
Benchtop Meters
2936-R-S 1936-R/2936-R High Performance Optical Power & Energy Meters
  • Most advanced optical power and energy meters in the market
  • Ideal for high speed, modulated light measurements
  • Data acquisition rate up to 10 kHz to on-board memory
  • Sub-picowatt noise level with photodiode detectors
  • Five analog and five digital filter settings
  • Trigger-in and trigger-out for synchronized measurements
1830 2 1830-R Benchtop Optical Power Meters
  • Ideal for fiber optic and silicon photonics manufacturing
  • Chirping audible tone for alignment
  • Fast analog output
  • Easy measurement modes and units selection
  • GPIB and RS-232 interfaces available
  • Remote-only operation available with the front panel lock-out
fpm 8220 3-quarter ILX Lightwave FPM-8220 Fiber Optic Power Meters
  • <+0.01 dB repeatability
  • +0.006 dB polarization dependent response
  • Wavelength range of 800 to 1650 nm
  • Power measurement range from -85dBm to +30dBm (3pW to 1W)
  • GPIB and USB remote interface
6810B with 6732B head mW nm ILX Lightwave OMM-6810B Optical Power & Wavelength Meters
  • Measures power and wavelength with OMH Power/Waveheads
  • Integrating sphere-based power measurements
  • Measurement heads cover 350 to 1650 nm wavelength range
  • Free-space or fiber-optic measurement heads
  • Easy system integration with standard GPIB interface
  • NIST traceable calibration
Portable Meters
1919-R-angle 1919-R High-Performance Hand-Held Optical Power Meters
  • Ideal for versatile and portable optical power and energy measurement
  • Ergonomic design with a user-friendly interface
  • Digital with Bargraph, Analog Needle, Line Plot, Stability, Real Time Statistics displays
  • Scalable 15 Hz Analog Output
  • Log every point at up to 5 kHz with Pyroelectric sensors
  • USB and RS232 interfaces with powerful PMManager(TM) PC application
843-R side 843-R Hand-Held Laser Power Meters
  • Ideal for quick and basic optical power and energy measurements
  • Digital value display with either bar graph or a simulated analog needle
  • USB enabled Model 843-R-USB available
  • Compact handheld design with rubber bumpers and a kickstand
  • English, Japanese, Chinese, and Russian language support
  • Increase capabilities with powerful PMManager(TM) PC application
Virtual Meters
844-PE-USB 844-PE-USB Virtual Optical Power Meters
  • Ideal for cost-effective automation and integrated systems
  • Small form factor
  • USB interface with powerful PMManager(TM) PC application
  • 15 Hz Analog output
  • Multiple power meters run on a single PC
Model 1936-R / 2936-R 1830-R 1830-R-GPIB FPM-8220 OMM-6810B 1919-R 843-R 843-R-USB 844-PE-USB
Brand Newport Newport Newport ILX Lightwave ILX Lightwave Newport Newport Newport Newport
Instrument Type Benchtop Benchtop Benchtop Benchtop Benchtop Hand-held, portable Hand-held, portable Hand-held, portable Computer interface only
Channels 1 / 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Photodiode Detector Compatible
Thermal Detector Compatible 919P Series only 919P Series only 919P Series only 919P Series only
Pyro Detector Compatible 818E Series only (obsolete) 919E Series only 919E Series only 919E Series only 919E Series only
Analog Output (converted from digitized values) (converted from digitized values) (converted from digitized values)
Analog Bandwidth Up to 400 kHz Up to 20 kHz Up to 20 kHz 15 Hz 15 Hz 15 Hz 15 Hz
Data Storage 250,000 pts internal via USB memory and PMManager™ Via PMManager™ Via PMManager™
Measurement rate per second 10,000 20 20 15 (Up to 5,000 for pyro) 15 15 15
Trigger In/Out
Computer Interface USB, RS-232 USB USB, GPIB, RS-232 GPIB, USB GPIB USB, RS-232 USB USB
PC Software PMA* PMA* PMA* PMManager PMManager PMManager
Field Upgradable Firmware
CW or Averaging Measurements
Pulse or Peak-to-peak (photodiode) (pyro) (pyro) (pyro) (pyro)
Frequency Measurement
Wavelength Measurement
Filters Analog and Averaging Averaging Averaging Averaging Averaging Averaging Averaging
Statistics Via PMManager™ 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.