Temperature-based Polarization Mode Dispersion Emulator

With the increase in the bitrate and the transmission distance of optical fiber communication, polarization mode dispersion (PMD) has become of interest, and is regarded as a severe and ultimate limitation on high-speed long haul optical transmission with a bitrate of 10Gbit/s or higher. Study on PMD statistics and PMD-induced distortions, as well as PMD measurement and compensation techniques, is not only one of the frontiers in the field of optical fiber communication but also a significant topic related to high-speed and long-haul optical transmission.In the present dissertation, a PMD emulator is produced to serve the National High-Tech Project Self-adapted PMD compensation system. The temperature characteristics of High-birefringence fibers are measured. A novel model is derived to describing and simulating temperature-based PMD emulator. The temperature-based PMD emulator fits the performance index well.With Jones Matrix measurement device, through counting the periods of output light intensity changing, the temperature sensitivity of a single high-birefringence fiber is calculated. The sensitivity is a key parameter in simulation and emulator design.With the parameter of temperature sensitivity of high-birefringence fiber, a novel model describing temperature-based PMD emulator is derived. Simulation shows that DGD probability density function of the emulator is decided by how many high-birefringence fiber parts are connected and the average DGD of the emulator is decided by total DGD of connected fiber parts.A temperature based PMD emulator is produced with 30 ps average DGD and Maxwellian distribution. The emulator structure is very simple with no polarization controller at key design. Besides, it can generate second order PMD with autocorrelation function quadratic falloff. It fits the project performance index and is used in the compensation system. The project has been checked out by experts on December 2003.