Abstract

We examine both theoretically and experimentally rapid polarization transients generated by mechanical impacts on dispersion compensation modules (DCMs). In our experiments, the transient response of the output polarization to sudden mechanical impacts is found to remain constant among successive measurements. That is, the Stokes vector traces the same path over the Poincaré sphere provided that the interval of time between measurements is less than the time associated with the slow thermal drift of the fiber birefringence profile. Experimentally we can measure angular velocities (AVs) of the Stokes vector over the Poincaré sphere exceeding $100\mathrm{krad}∕\mathrm{s}$. We demonstrate theoretically with a simple model for the excitation that the patterns of the AV observed in experiments can be reproduced through simulation and that the amplitude of the AV increases with the volume of the fiber affected by the impact. Our model is sufficiently simple to be employed in system simulations.

© 2010 Optical Society of America

Transient evolution of the polarization-dispersion vector’s probability distribution

Yu Tan, Jianke Yang, William L. Kath, and Curtis M. Menyuk
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 19(5) 992-1000 (2002)

Effect of cross-phase-modulation-induced polarization scattering on optical polarization mode dispersion compensation in wavelength-division-multiplexed systems

Chongjin Xie, Lothar Möller, Daniel C. Kilper, and Linn F. Mollenauer
Opt. Lett. 28(23) 2303-2305 (2003)

In-service light path PMD (polarization mode dispersion) monitoring by PMD compensation

X. Steve Yao, Xiaojun Chen, T. J. Xia, Glenn Wellbrock, David Chen, Daniel Peterson, Paul Zhang, Ansel Belisle, Lei Dong, and Tao Yu
Opt. Express 18(26) 27306-27318 (2010)

Polarization mode dispersion in short fiber lengths

Weihong Huang and David Yevick
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 23(6) 1509-1512 (2006)

Multicanonical comparison of polarization-mode dispersion compensator performance

Tao Lu, Weihong Huang, David Yevick, Maurice O’Sullivan, and Michael Reimer
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 22(12) 2804-2809 (2005)