The dynamics of state of polarization in the presence of conventional polarization effects in optical fibers

Abstract

The presence of polarization mode dispersion (PMD) vector in an optical fiber leads to rotating the input state of polarization (SOP) vector with an angle determined by both the value of PMD vector and the frequency. Also, the PMD leads to differential group delay (DGD) among the polarization components. The presence of polarization dependent loss (PDL) vector leads to attenuating one of the components and increases the other by a magnitude determined by the value of PDL vector. The study of each phenomenon individually does not give a proper description of the physical nature of the optical fiber system, because these two phenomena arise together at the same time. In this paper, a new theoretical model is introduced to determine the output SOP as a function of PMD, PDL, and input SOP. On the other hand, a new expression was formulated to the dynamical equation and proved that the principal state of polarization (PSP) vector is a complex, where real and imaginary parts of PSP vector represent the PMD and PDL vectors, respectively. Using these vectors, a new value of DGD and PDL may be found.