Abstract

Polarization mode dispersion (PMD) compensator already proven in field at 40 Gb/s is the so called “simple PMD compensator” (SPMDC) with a signal processing part formed by a polarization controller and a polarization maintaining fiber (PMF) attached at the output port.¹ For NRZ signal it extends the PMD limit from about 15 percent of the bit period to 30 percent corresponding to 3.8 ps and 7.5 ps for 40 Gb/s signal, respectively. In order to increase the PMD limit, more complex signal processing structures have been proposed like cascaded SPMDCs^2,3 or the additional incorporation of tunable chromatic dispersion elements.^4,2 Nevertheless the adaptation of a multi degree-of-freedom (DOF) processor in a sufficiently short time is a demanding task which is not easy to realize.

© 2002 Optical Society of America