Loading…

Theoretical analysis and measurement of the effect of fiber twist on the polarization OTDR of optical fibers

With the growing interest in polarization-mode dispersion (PMD), the technique of polarization optical time domain reflectometry (POTDR) has received attention because of its ability to measure birefringence characteristics along a fiber. PMD measurements using POTDR normally assume that the linear...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Schuh, R.E., Ellison, J.G., Gleeson, L.M., Sikora, E.S.R., Siddiqui, A.S., Walker, N.G., Bebbington, D.H.O.
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Request full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:With the growing interest in polarization-mode dispersion (PMD), the technique of polarization optical time domain reflectometry (POTDR) has received attention because of its ability to measure birefringence characteristics along a fiber. PMD measurements using POTDR normally assume that the linear birefringence /spl beta//sub L/ is the dominant birefringence in the fiber, such that the circular birefringence /spl beta//sub C/ can be ignored, allowing the PMD due to /spl beta//sub L/ to be inferred from the periodicity of the POTDR output. In this paper we induce circular birefringence by fiber twist and show that even small values of /spl beta//sub C/ will have a considerable influence on the POTDR output and can lead to an overestimate of the fiber's PMD.
DOI:10.1109/OFC.1996.908308