Dependence of polarization-mode dispersion penalties on receiver characteristics

We measured the dependence of polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) penalty on receiver characteristics in an optically preamplified receiver using nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) and return-to-zero (RZ) optical signals. The PMD-induced penalties were measured as a function of receiver electrical bandwidth at two different conditions: an optimized decision point and a fixed decision point. We also describe the measurement of the input polarization dependence of the PMD-induced penalty using polarization-scrambled signals. The observed penalty depends strongly on decision point and receiver electrical bandwidth in both NRZ and RZ signal formats.