Open-loop polarization mode dispersion mitigation for fibre-optic time and frequency transfer

Thomas Fordell*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

    8 Citations (Scopus)
    68 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    The non-reciprocal and dynamic nature of polarization mode dispersion (PMD) in optical fibers can be a problem for accurate time and frequency transfer. Here, a simple, passive solution is put forward that is based on transmitting optical pulses with alternating orthogonal polarization. The fast and deterministic polarization modulation means that the PMD noise is pushed far away from the frequencies of interest. Furthermore, upon reflection from a Faraday mirror at the receiver, the pulses have a well-defined polarization when they return to the transmitter, which facilitates stable optical phase detection and fibre phase compensation. In an open-loop test setup that uses a mode-locked laser and a simple pulse interleaver, the polarization mode dispersion is shown to be reduced by more than two orders of magnitude.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)6311-6319
    JournalOptics Express
    Volume30
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 14 Feb 2022
    MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

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