Abstract

Optical depolarizers are frequently used in optical measurement equipment as well as in fiberoptic sensors to remove undesired polarization sensitivity [1]. Recently, depolarizers have also been employed in long-haul all-optical communication systems to avoid polarization hole burning (anisotropic gain saturation) in the erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA) caused by the optical information carrier [2]. Although the difference in polarization-dependent gain is small [3], it accumulates in each amplifier stage and severely impairs the optical signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in transoceanic cables spanning distances of up to 9000 km [4].

© 1995 Optical Society of America