Abstract

Polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) of transmission line can be one of the major degradation factors in long-haul optical-amplifier repeater systems.^1,2 Since the magnitude of the PMD changes with time,³ it is of great importance to know the statistics of the PMD to evaluate long-term system performance. To date, many efforts have been made on this issue, both theoretically and experimentally^3,4; nevertheless, none of the previous work reports direct measurements of time-varying PMD characteristics of optical fibers in a practical environment. This paper reports the results of long-term PMD measurements of an installed optical submarine cable for what we believe to be the first time.

© 1994 Optical Society of America