SC210 Hands-on Polarization-Related Measurements Workshop

Monday, March 23, 2009
8:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Danny Peterson¹, Kent Rochford², Ivan T. Lima³, Paul Williams²; ¹Verizon Business, USA, ²NIST, USA, ³North Dakota State Univ., USA
Level: Beginner (no background or minimal training is necessary to understand course material)

Course Description

In this Short Course you will measure all of the polarization-related parameters that are important to high-speed fiber optic communications. The course begins with a brief review of key polarization concepts and a short description of the course equipment and setups. The participants then divide into small groups and rotate among four lab stations.

In Lab 1, you will control and measure state and degree of polarization. You will also measure polarization cross-talk on polarization-maintaining fiber and create a polarization reference frame for absolute polarization measurements. Equipment for this lab includes a polarimeter, a DOP meter, polarization controllers and a polarization extinction ratio meter. Kent Rochford is the instructor. In Lab 2, you will measure the polarization dependent loss (PDL) of optical components—including filters—using the all-states and Mueller matrix PDL methods. You will also measure and correct for the polarization dependence of optical power meters and OSAs. Equipment for this lab includes a swept Mueller matrix setup, polarization controllers and scramblers, a PDL meter, an OSA and an optical power meter. Paul Williams is the instructor. In Lab 3, you will measure the polarization mode dispersion (PMD) of transmission paths with combinations of high-PMD fibers. The measurement methods used in this lab include Interferometry and Jones Matrix Eigenanalysis (JME). Danny Peterson is the instructor. In Lab 4, participants will explore the impact of first- and second-order PMD on 40Gb/s NRZ digital waveforms and verify the technical difficulties associated with PMD compensation. Equipment for this lab includes a PMD source, low- and high-birefringence fibers, an optical oscilloscope, an optical transmitter and a polarimeter. Ivan T. Lima Jr. is the instructor.

Benefits and Learning Objectives

This course should enable you to:

  • Operate a wide variety of polarization-related test equipment.
  • Measure polarization dependent loss (PDL) using all-states and Mueller methods and polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) using Interferometric and JME methods.
  • Demonstrate the effect of PMD on high-speed digital signals and describe the technical difficulties associated with PMD compensation.
  • Determine the outage probability in optical fiber transmission systems due to PMD-induced degradation.
  • Measure polarization cross talk “in-line” and at the end of a PM fiber.
  • Achieve optimum performance in polarization-maintaining (PM) fiber applications.
  • Measure the polarization dependent response (PDR) of everyday test equipment and describe how to overcome PDRs by means of high-speed polarization scrambling.
  • Describe the system-level effects of polarization-related impairments on long-haul optical transmission.

Intended Audience

This course is intended for engineers, technicians and managers involved with optical fiber, components or systems including those that operate at or above 10Gb/s.

Biography

Kent Rochford manages the NIST Optoelectronics Division in Boulder, Colo. Previously, he managed the system architecture and test group responsible for characterizing and developing a PMD compensator at Yafo Networks. As a staff scientist at NIST, he worked on optical fiber sensors and developed various polarimetric and interferometric measurements. He received his doctorate from the University of Arizona, has published more than 60 journal and conference papers, and the chapter "Polarization and Polarimetry" in the Encyclopedia of Physical Science and Technology. Daniel Peterson is a distinguished engineer in global transport engineering at Verizon Business. He is an internal advisor on new system technologies for optical transport and is responsible for specifying new optical fiber and characterization of older fiber for new technology. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Dallas. He received his B.S.E.E. and M.S. in physics from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and an M.S.E.E. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Dallas. He is a senior member of IEEE. Ivan T. Lima Jr. is an assistant professor at North Dakota State University, where he also holds a faculty associate position in the Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering. In 2006, Lima served as Faculty Fellow in the AFRL. He was a co-recipient of the 2002 Venice Summer School on Polarization Mode Dispersion Award, received the 2003 IEEE/LEOS Graduate Student Fellowship Award, and earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 2003. He authored or co-authored 22 archival journal papers, 39 conference contributions, one book chapter and one U.S. patent. His focus is the impact of polarization effects in optical fiber systems. Paul Williams has been a physicist with the Optoelectronics Division of NIST since 1988. His background is in optical fiber telecommunications metrology with emphasis on polarimetry, and he is currently working on stabilized optical fiber transmission of narrow-linewidth laser light. His previous areas of research include polarization-mode dispersion, polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography, electro- and magneto-optic effects in crystals and ferroelectric liquid crystals, and optical retardance standards.