PMD Distribution Measurement by an OTDR with Polarimetry Considering Depolarization of Rayleigh Backcattered Waves

The p-OTDR waveforms were fitted well by modified Mueller matrixes, under the assumptions of scattering by cloud of spherical particles and a reduction in the DOP due to the interference of the backscattered waves with the phase fluctuation. We demonstrated a PMD distribution measurement based on the p-OTDR Jones Matrix Eigenvalue (JME) method with assumption of slowly-varying PMD along fiber length, and were success in regeneration of PMD distribution of test fibers fabricated by splicing constituent fibers with known PMDs. Surprisingly, the regenerated PMD distribution along the fiber length shows a linear accumulation of constituent fiber PMD in the short range of 6 km.