Polarization Mode Dispersion Management Using Unidirectionally Spun Fibers

Optical fiber links made by concatenating unidirectionally spun fibers with alternate helicities are considered. The polarization mode dispersion of such links is thoroughly analyzed, and it is shown that with a proper design of the link, substantial differential group delay (DGD) reduction can be achieved. In particular, the highest performance is attained when a well-defined balance condition is satisfied. By relaxing this condition, a tradeoff between the complexity of the link structure and the DGD reduction can be achieved as well.