Providing polarization diversity and reducing polarization dependent loss (pdl) in a grating-based optical spectrum analyzer (osa)

A method for providing a configuration for reducing polarization dependent loss (PDL) and providing higher resolution optical measurements, comprising:

• determining an optical beam path associated with a first optical beam and a second optical beam;
• transmitting the first optical beam in a first direction along the optical beam path;
• and
• transmitting the second optical beam in a second direction along the optical beam path to enable the second optical beam to exchange a path of the first optical beam.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having an executable stored thereon, which when executed instructs a processor to perform a method as follows:

• position a first mirror with respect to a first optical beam and a second mirror with respect to a second optical beam;
• determine an insertion loss (IL) difference between a first insertion loss (IL) for the first optical beam and a second insertion loss (IL) for the second optical beam;
• and
• adjust a position of one or more of the first mirror and the second mirror, wherein the adjusting is based on reducing the insertion loss (IL) difference.