Abstract

The study of polarization mode dispersion (PMD) in terms of both measurements and system impairments has gone on for over fifteen years in Standards developments as well as other venues. Some open issues remain, but many were closed with the Consent of ITU-T Recommendation G.650.2 in December, 2004. This Recommendation clarified the definitions and relationships of the different measurement methods for first order PMD. Since then, the IEC Standards have been in an update process. See for example, 60793-1-48 for measurement of fiber and cable, or the general theory and guidance document, 61282-9. This paper will try to illuminate the main mathematical aspects of the learnings obtained in this convergence process. Although numerous references exist, only a few will be cited here.