Analysis of polarization mode dispersion in optical fiber communications and photonic microwave filters

Abstract

The birefringence of real-life optical fibers causes pulse broadening in fiber-optic communication systems. This phenomenon is known as polarization mode dispersion (PMD). PMD has recently emerged as one of the critical concerns in achieving highperformance optical fiber transmission systems. A major part of the thesis is devoted to the study of PMD, together with chromatic dispersion (CD), in high bit-rate optical fiber communication systems. A new approach has been presented in this thesis for the description of PMD and determining its effect on pulse and continuous RF signals. This approach has the advantage of (a) clear description of the behavior of the state-of-polarization (SOP) and the PMD vector, and (b) easy calculation of the effect of PMD and CD on pulse and continuous signals. The work presented in this dissertation includes: (i) A novel analytical expression relating the output state of polarization and the PMD vector including polarization-dependent chromatic dispersion (PCD), in terms of the angle of precession of the output state of polarization around the PMD vector. A number of new expressions incorporating for the first time this angle of precession have been derived. First, a general relation to study the effect of differential group delay (DGD), PCD and chromatic dispersion on pulses of arbitrary shapes has been derived. From this general relation, we derive expressions for pulse broadening and power penalty for Gaussian pulses. Measured results are presented to support the expressions derived above. To study the effects of higher-order PMD, two new terms have been introduced: depolarization vector and depolarization-dependent chromatic dispersion. A novel analytical expression relating the PMD vector and depolarization vector including depolarization-dependent chromatic dispersion (DCD), in terms of the angle ...