Effects of angular misalignment in interferometric detection of distributed polarization coupling

Abstract

White light interferometry is used to measure the distributed polarization coupling (DPC) in polarization-maintaining fibers (PMFs). By using a scanning Michelson interferometer to compensate the optical path difference (OPD) induced by the modal birefringence of PMFs, both the coupling strength and positions of the coupling points can be acquired. In ideal DPC measurement, the two reflective mirrors on the fixed and scanning arms of the Michelson interferometer are normal to each other. But in practice, the movable reflective mirror cannot be aligned normally to the fixed mirror exactly, which leads to an angular misalignment. The angular misalignment causes a variation of the OPD, which will reduce the fringe visibility. The theoretical simulation is investigated correspondingly. Consequently, the angular error leads to the miscalculation of the polarization coupling intensity. Based on the experimental results, a revised coupling strength calculation equation is proposed to minimize the influence of angular misalignment.