Mixing efficiency in a coherent optical receiver

Abstract

In this article the mixing efficiency of an optical coherent receiver is calculated using the Stokes parameter representation for the involved fields. It allows us to obtain formulas of immediate interpretation and computation that can be useful for optical coherent communication system performance evaluation and for the analysis of optical coherent sensors. Moreover, a new scheme for active polarization tracking based on the obtained results is presented that is useful for fiber coherent optical communications.