DIFFERENTIAL GEOMETRY-BASED METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MEASURING POLARIZATION MODE DISPERSION VECTORS IN OPTICAL FIBERS

摘要

A method and apparatus are provided for determining the first and second orderpolarization mode dispersion (PMD) vectors of an optical device, such as asingle mode optical fiber, using only a single input polarization state. Thisis achieved by passing light beams having a fixed polarization state andfrequencies that vary over a range through the optical device that is beingtested. The output polarization states of the light beams that have passedthrough the optical device are measured, and used to form a curve in Stokesspace on a Poincare sphere. The shape of this curve is used to approximate thefirst and second order (and possibly higher order) PMD vectors, using formulasbased on differential geometry.