Polarization-mode dispersion measurements along installed optical fibers using gated backscattered light and a polarimeter

Author

Sunnerud, Henrik ; Olsson, Bengt-Erik ; Karlsson, Magnus ; Andrekson, Peter A. ; Brentel, Jonas

Author_Institution

Dept. of Microelectron., Chalmers Univ. of Technol., Goteborg, Sweden

Volume

18

Issue

7

fYear

2000

fDate

7/1/2000 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

897

Lastpage

904

Abstract

We describe two new techniques that utilize a polarimeter for studying the state of polarization of gated Rayleigh backscattered or Fresnel backreflected light along optical fibers in real time on the Poincare sphere. The first method, using Rayleigh backscattered light, is here applied to measure the accumulation of polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) along an 11.5 km section of installed fiber link. With a simplified configuration, the second technique is developed and applied for measuring the PMD of individual fiber subsections in a 37 km long link. This is achieved by using the Fresnel-reflections which arise from the fiber connectors that join the link.

Keywords

Rayleigh scattering; backscatter; optical fibre communication; optical fibre dispersion; optical fibre polarisation; optical fibre testing; polarimetry; 11.5 km; 37 km; Fresnel backreflected light; Fresnel-reflections; Poincare sphere; Rayleigh backscattered light; fiber connectors; gated Rayleigh backscattered light; gated backscattered light; individual fiber subsections; installed fiber link; installed optical fibers; polarimeter; polarization-mode dispersion; polarization-mode dispersion measurements; state of polarization; Connectors; High speed optical techniques; Laboratories; Microelectronics; Optical fiber cables; Optical fiber communication; Optical fiber polarization; Optical fibers; Photonics; Polarization mode dispersion;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/50.850733

Filename

850733