11 April 2003 Chino, CA Lightwave--General Photonics has announce the production release of a miniature polarization scrambler card (PSM-001) designed for hand held and field instruments. It uses fiber squeezer technology to randomize polarization states.
Unlike PCD-003 and PCD-004, the scrambling rate of this miniature scrambler is user-selectable from a few hertz to tens of kilohertz via a push-button switch. Its low power consumption, as low as half watts, enables the module to be powered by batteries. Its miniature size (3x4x0.8 inches) makes it easy to be integrated in tight spaces typical in handheld instruments. Finally, the scrambler has a "superb" scrambling uniformity enabled by an on board microprocessor and proprietary codes, according to the company
According to Steve Yao, founder and CEO of General Photonics, "PSM-001 is the first battery powered and miniature-sized polarization scrambler on the market. The release of PSM-001 will help our customers to bring polarization measurement functionalities to hand-held and field instruments".