Patent ID: 7433375

Claim:
A method of determining a range of qualified optical power levels for a laser emitter in a fiber optic link that couples the laser emitter to an optical fiber, the method comprising: providing a laser emitter; determining a reference optical power value for the laser emitter wherein determining the reference optical power value for the laser emitter includes: calculating reference optical power value from previously determined laser performance information derived from a sample population of lasers that are substantially similar to the provided laser emitter, using previously determined coupling efficiency information concerning the coupling efficiency of a sample population of lasers that are substantially similar to the provided laser emitter and a fiber optic link, and using a predetermined set of user specified performance parameters that include at least one of: a predetermined extinction ratio, a predetermined temperature dependent power range window (W) wherein the predetermined temperature dependent power range window (W) is adjusted to control at least one of an operational lifetime of the laser emitter, a production yield of the laser emitters, and optical link performance or; a predetermined offset current value (I offset ), a predetermined quantization error for the offset current value (I offset ), and a predetermined operational temperature range; measuring the performance of the provided laser emitter; and determining the range of qualified optical power levels for the provided laser emitter by modifying the reference target operating power using the measurements of the provided laser.