Measurement of polarisation coupling length in cabled fibres

摘要

The recently observed difference in polarisation mode dispersion (PMD) between spooled and cabled single-mode optical fibres is investigated experimentally. The results show a factor SO difference between the mode-coupling lengths of spooled and cabled fibres, which explains the factor of 7 difference observed in the PMD values. Internal stress is shown to be the dominant source of birefringence.