Measurement of the differential group delay in installed optical fibers using polarization multiplexed solitons

• We experimentally demonstrate a new technique for measurement of the differential group delay (DGD) in optical fibers using polarization-division multiplexed (PDM) solitons: the change in the separation of orthogonally polarized solitons propagating along different principal axes in a fiber equals the DGD at the signal wavelength. Based on this principle, we use PDM solitons to measure the accumulated DGD at different distances along a 400-km installed fiber. The measured DGD exhibits the expected square-root-of-length dependence, corresponding to a polarization-mode dispersion of 0.26 ps/km1/2. The results are in excellent agreement with those obtained by a commercial instrument utilizing Jones matrix eigenanalysis.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Elektroteknik och elektronik -- Telekommunikation (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering -- Telecommunications (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Atom- och molekylfysik och optik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Elektroteknik och elektronik -- Annan elektroteknik och elektronik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering -- Other Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

art (subject category)

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