Patent ID: 7249881

Claim:
An apparatus for determining a characteristic of an optical device comprising: a temperature measurement device; at least one thermal probe coupled to said temperature measurement device; and a device characteristic processor in communication with said temperature measurement device, said device characteristic processor being capable of receiving a signal from said temperature measurement device and determining a device power characteristic of the optical device from said signal, the device power characteristic being indicative of the power leaving the optical device and exclusive of thermal dissipation, wherein said signal comprises a temperature difference signal indicative of a temperature difference between a first temperature, associated with the optical device and measured by a first thermal probe of said at least one thermal probe, and a second temperature of a nearby point, and wherein said optical device comprises one of: a laser diode; a waveguide amplifier; a waveguide modulator; an integrated photonic system having optical elements which emit light into adjacent components; and a detector.