PMD distribution measurement by an OTDR with polarimetry assuming Rayleigh backscattering by randomly oriented non-spherical particles

In previous works of polarization mode dispersion (PMD) measurement by an optical time domain reflectometer with polarimetery (p-OTDR), scatterers are assumed to be cloud of small spherical particles in a fiber. We reported the p-OTDR waveforms were fitted well by modified Mueller matrixes assuming scattering by cloud of non-spherical particles. We realized a PMD measurement based on a novel p-OTDR JME (Jones matrix eigenvalue) method. The measured PMD was consistent with that of JME standard measurement using transmission-type polarimetry. In this paper, we confirm the reliability of this novel PMD measurement method by repeated comparisons with a standard measurement scheme. However, it is desirable to improve signal to noise ratio and algorithm using correlation, and to find direct evidence for non-spherical Rayleigh backscattering.