Applications of importance sampling to PMD

Applications of importance sampling to polarization mode dispersion (PMD) statistics in optical fiber transmission systems are presented. Previous methods that uses Monte Carlo (MC) simulations concentrates on the largest PMD values that allows only low probability events to be simulated. In the new method, importance sampling biases MC calculations of concatenated birefringent sections so that first- and second-order PMD values occur thereby allowing rare PMD events to be simulated more efficiently. Importance sampled MC techniques therefore provide a natural and effective tool to assess PMD statistics and PMD-induced impairments in optical transmission systems at realistic probability levels.