Polarization Beat Length Estimation Based on the Statistical Properties of Brillouin Gain in SMF

摘要

A simple method is proposed to estimate the average polarization beat length of single mode fiber (SMF) through the analysis of statistical characteristics of stimulated Brillouin amplified signals. Through launching a variety of pump wave polarizations, the standard deviation of the Brillouin gain is found linearly related with the fiber beat length, within the normal range of beat length values for SMFs. Both the numerical simulations and the experimental results are presented to test the validity of the method. The technique reported here offers a fast, convenient, and low-cost solution to estimate fiber average beat length.