Testing of transmitters for communication links by software simulation of reference channel and/or reference receiver

1. A method for testing a transmitter for an optical fiber communications link, the method comprising:

accessing a stored waveform for the transmitter under test, wherein the stored waveform is based on capture of an optical output generated by the transmitter in response to a data test pattern applied to the transmitter;

processing the waveform in software, to simulate propagation of the waveform through a reference channel and/or a reference receiver;

determining a pulse response for the transmitter under test;

synthesizing a transmitter response to a square wave input from the pulse response;

determining a temporal offset between the synthesized transmitter response and an expected waveform timing;

generating an aligned transmitter response to the square wave input by removing the temporal offset;

computing an optical modulation amplitude (OMA) of the aligned transmitter response to the square wave input; and

calculating a performance metric for the transmitter based on the OMA.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the temporal offset between the synthesized transmitter response and the expected waveform timing comprises:

determining a synthesized transition time when the synthesized transmitter response transitions between a first logic level and a second logic level;

determining an expected transition time identifying a transition between the first logic level and the second logic level;

calculating a difference between the synthesized transition time and the expected transition time.