Abstract

Polarization-dependent loss (PDL) is the maximum difference in transmission with respect to polarization state. Many optical components, such as isolators and couplers, exhibit PDL. In a previous paper a manual PDL-measurement method using a three-paddle polarization controller and an erbium-doped fiber depolarizer was presented.¹ In that approach any error in the measurement results in lower-than-actual PDL values. In this work we present a new approach that uses the Mueller-matrix description of the device under test (DUT) to measure the PDL. In addition, this method determines the polarization states that produce maximum and minimum transmission. With this information, the range of the insertion loss as a function of polarization state can be obtained.

© 1994 Optical Society of America