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Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD), its limits, compensation and effect on optical fiber networks
R. L. Sharma1, Dr. Ranjit Singh, Vinod Kumar
Abstract- This paper deals with the polarization mode dispersion (PMD), its limits, which an optical fiber can tolerate, the compensation and the overall effect on optical fiber on high-speed optical networks. The polarization mode dispersion causes pulses broadening. Excessive broadening will cause bits to spread in such a manner that they overlap adjacent bits. The receiver may have difficulty in identifying the correct bits and interpreting adjacent bits, increasing bit error rate. The PMD is a difficult parameter to measure as it changes with time and depends upon environmental conditions. The statistical nature of the PMD has been discussed. Its effect on optical fiber and consequently on the optical networks has been analyzed and discussed. Keywords: Optical networks, Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD), Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM), Chromatic Dispersion (CD), Dispersion compensation modules (DCM)

1. INTRODUCTION
Telecommunication service providers continuously demand higher & higher bandwidth for their networks from long-haul to access. As it is very expensive to install new communication links every time, they expand their networks, they prefer to increase the existing capacity of the fiber links by use of dense wavelength division multiplexing(DWDM) system and using higher bit rate systems. The old optical fibers, however, exhibit such physical characteristics that limit their ability to transmit high speed signals. The broadening of light pulses, called dispersion is an important and critical factor that limits the transmission quality over optical links. Dispersion is consequence of the physical properties of the optical fibers. Single-mode fibers, used in highspeed optical networks are subject to Chromatic Dispersion (CD) that causes pulse broadening depending on wavelength, and Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD) that causes pulse broadening depending on polarization.

Excessive spreading will cause bits to overflow their intended time slots and overlap adjacent bits. The receiver may then have difficulty in identifying the correct bits and interpret them, increasing the Bit Error Rate. To preserve the transmission quality, the maximum amount of time dispersion must be limited to a small proportion of the signal bit rate, typically 10% of the bit time. Optical networks ranging from 2.5 Gbps to 10 Gbps and upto 40 Gbps, the acceptable tolerance of dispersion is drastically reduced. The tight tolerance of high-speed networks means that every possible source of pulse spreading should be addressed. The concerned companies need to measure the dispersion of their networks to assess the possibility of upgrading them to higher transmission speeds, or to evaluate the need for compensation. This paper, thus, presents the causes and effects of PMD and describes the different ways to measure it.

, Professors, Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering, Ajay Kumar Garg Engineering College. Ghaziabad (U.P.) Assistant Professor, ECE Deptt. Trident ET Group of institutions Ghaziabad (U.P.)

2. POLARISATION MODE DISPERSION (PMD)

The term PMD denotes both the physical phenomenon and the associated temporal delay. PMD also causes a system penalty because of the associated pulse spreading in a high- speed digital

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transmission system. PMD is essentially linear birefringence due to core eccentricity and ovalization. These appear during the manufacturing process or result from external stresses on the fiber, such as bends and twists and can be considered constant over a length called the coupling length. The typical value of the coupling length is several hundred meters and depends on fiber manufacturing parameters. Thus the distance, which are essential for transmission applications, the actual length of the fiber is much greater than the coupling length. Differential Group Delay (DGD) characterizes the PMD phenomenon. DGD is the difference in propagation time between the two polarization eigen-states, which are the states of polarization with minimum and maximum propagation time for each wavelength.

Consequently, this amounts to random (or strong) mode coupling. In such cases, the DGD varies as a function of wavelength and the PMD, expressed in ps, is the average value of the DGD spectral distribution. The average DGD scales as the square root of the length of the fiber. So the PMD coefficient, expressed in ps/(km)1/2, is often calculated. In addition, the second-order PMD coefficient, in ps/(nm.km), expresses the PMD dependency with the wavelength. It is necessary to list PMD on C & L bands. But, depending on the wavelength transmission window of the network, there is a need to also test PMD at 1310 nm as PMD values could be different for different wavelengths i.e. between 1310 nm to 1550 nm.

3. THE STATISTICAL NATURE OF PMDThe differential determines the system penalty and depends largely on the wavelength of operation within the operating wavelength band. But DGD also changes with environmental conditions over time. The following figures show the DGD vs Wavelength for the same fiber at different occasions.

Figure 1 : Differential group delay of polarization mode and random coupling fiber In case of weak mode coupling (Polarization Maintaining Fiber--short length of ordinary fiber), the light polarized along the slow axis arrives later than the light traveling along the fast axis (i.e., the fast and slow axes have different indexes of refraction). In this case, the PMD is equal to the DGD. In other cases (long fiber lengths), the optical fiber acts like many short birefringent elements stacked together and the alignment of fast and slow-axes is random from element to element.

Figure2: DGD versus wavelength, on the same fiber, two different occasions The above graphs show that DGD at a particular wavelength changes with time. The variation may be as much as 1ps in a few minutes. The general

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aspect of the plots is generally the same, and the distribution statistics remain constant. It can be shown that DGD versus wavelength exhibits a Maxwellian distribution, with a fairly constant mean value over time. The PMD figure is usually taken as the average of the wavelength distribution. For some fibers, the PMD (average value of DGD) is 0.65 ps.

It is essential to measure PMD in the field in order to evaluate the capacity of networks and assess the possibility of upgrading networks for higher bit rate transmission.

5. MEASUREMENT OF PMD
5.1 Methods:- The main methods for determining the polarization mode dispersion of an optical fiber, described by three TIA/EIA industry standards . The three methods are as under: a) The Fixed Analyzer Method (FOTP113 standard) b) The Jones Matrix Method (FOTP-122 standard) c) The interferometric Method (FOTP124 standards) a) The Fixed analyzer method: It involves launching of monochromatic polarized light into the fiber under test and measuring the spectral transmission with another polarizer. This method is also referred as wavelength scanning method.

4. PMD, LIMITS AND COMPENSATION

PMD is caused by fiber stresses during manufacturing or environmental condition changes and thus it has because an essential part of the networks. But a small PMD level can be tolerable in networks depending upon as to what data rate is under consideration for transmission. The general typical value of PMD is 10% of the bit time. The table below depicts PMD limit for corresponding Transmission rate, bit time for SONET/SDH systems. SDH SONET OC-1 STM1 STM4 OC-3 OC-12 OC-24 STM16 STM64 STM256 OC-48 OC-192 OC-768 Transmission Rate 51.84 Mb/s 155.52 Mb/s 622.08 Mb/s 1244.16 Mb/s (1.2 Gbps) 2489.32 Mb/s (2.5 Gbps) 9953.28 Mb/s (10 Gbps) 39318.12 Mb/s (40 Gbps) Bit Time 19.29 ns 6.43 ns 1.61 ns 803.76 ps 401.88 ps 100.47 ps 25.12 ps PMD Limit 2 ns 160 ps 160 ps 80 ps 40 ps 10 ps 2.5 ps

Figure3: Fixed analyzer setup The linear birefringence of a short fiber induces a sinusoidal transmission response when scanning the wavelength.

Table1: Bit Rate and time and limit of Polarization Mode Dispersion PMD is an unstable phenomenon and thus it is not easy to compensate it. However Dispersion Compensation Modules (DCM) have been developed for this purpose. The dispersion compensation modules are placed in front of the receivers and they can be timed in dispersion to compensate for the dispersion measured continuously or a sample of optical pulses.

Figure4: Wavelength scanning of a short fiber

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The calculation of PMD on a short fiber is straightforward: it is the inverse of the fringe spacing (in frequency) in the wavelength scanning method. But practically fiber lengths in networks are much longer than the coupling length. A 50 km fiber , generally , has 0.1 ps / km as PMD and coupling length is of the order of 1 km.

It uses a tunable laser source, a polarization analyzer, a polarization controller considerably. At each wavelength, the polarization controller is scanned and a mathematical calculation is performed using the Jones matrix formalism. From this method the differential Group Delay that is the maximum delay that can be encountered over polarization at that wavelength is derived.

Figure6: Jones matrix method setup to measure differential group delay For fiber whose length is shorter than the coupling length, differential group delay is not dependent of wavelength. However for long fibers, DGD is dependent on wavelength. Therefore, over a specified wavelength range, the PMD is computed as a mean value for the DGD. The typical value of the wavelength may be 40 nm around an operating wavelength.

Figure5: Wavelength scanning of a long fiber The main feature when compared to the short fiber is that spectral transmission is not at all sinusoidal in nature. Around some wavelengths (1530 nm in our examples), the fringe separation is narrower showing that the effect of PMD is higher around these wavelengths. In this case, the PMD can not be defined in a straight forward manner as it is for the short fibers. One method uses fringe counting over the wavelength span. A PMD value can be calculated, although it is not always clear what should be considered as fringe. For instance we may have another method and use Fourier transform of the transmission spectrum and it is very similar to interferometry, technically. The fixed analyzer method is limited to a 60 ps delay range and is very sensitive to the fiber movement, thus causing uncertainty. Averaging is required for better accuracy, but averaging measures the measurement time. Also, as this method requires step-by-step wavelength scanning, it is necessary to ensure that the wavelength step is small enough with regard to the PMD to be measured. (b) The Jones Matrix Method;

Figure7: Differential Group Delay versus wavelength (Jones matrix Eigen analysis) for a long fiber The Jones matrix method gives an indication of the Differential Group Delay dependence with wavelength. Using a narrow band tunable laser, the minimum measurable PMD value is not limited. (c) The Interferometric Method: In this method, we use a polarized broadband source and a Michelson scanning interferometer.

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The interferometer can be seen as a Fourier transform spectrum analyzer, or more simply as a correlator for the PMD-delayed wave trains. As shown below, for a short fiber, in the interferometric envelope, a single control beam corresponding to auto correlation peak of the source, and the two satellite peaks on either side of the control peak. The interferometer unbalance between the central peak and the satellite peaks results in the PMD. The interferogram can also be seen as the Fourier transform of the transmitted spectrum of the wavelength scanning method, taken over the spectral range of the source. For longer randomly mode-coupled fibers, the interferogram is close to a Gaussian function multiplied by a noise after removing the autocorrelation peak. From a mathematical point of view, the signal is the envelope of the Fourier transform of the transmission spectrum resulting from the wavelength scanning method. PMD is given by the width of the envelope. No information is contained in the auto-correlation peak related to PMD measurement. It can be removed either by computation, or by adding a quarter-wave-plate inside the interferometer to create destructive interferences when both arms of the interferometer have the same length. This second method enables a higher dynamic range, resulting in the ability to test longer links, better repeatability and a higher accuracy. This method is well suited for field measurement requirements. The test instruments are portable, rugged and can operate on batteries. The interferometric method is insensitive to fiber moves. It provides accurate measurements in a few seconds, and does not require averaging. High power broadband sources can be used to increase the dynamic range, allowing measurement of long links up to 250 km. This method can also be used to measure PMD through multiple amplifiers such as EDFAs. The minimum measurable PMD value is limited in this method, depending on the spectral width of the broadband source. However, PMD measurement down to 0.05 ps are possible with sources having FWHM > 50 nm which is quite acceptable in the field conditions.
Measurement range Dynamic range application

Fixed analyzer method

Jones Matrix Metho d laborat ory

Interferometric methods T INTY GINTY

any in k in the field (m e a s u re ment Through EDFAs possible )

any in k in the field (m e a s u re m e n t Through EDFAs possible )

any in k in the field (m e a s u re m e nt Through EDFAs possible )

measurement constraint

High sensitivity to fiber movement

0.08 ps to 60 ps < 50 dB

High sensitiv ity to fiber movem ent C & L bands only 0.03 ps to 50 ps < dB 50

0.04 ps to 80 ps > 60 dB (high dynamic both at 1310nm and 1550 nm) fast

0.04 ps to 115 ps < 50 dB

Measurement speed

Cost

Fast for one measurement but averaging is required Low

slow

high

low

low

Table2: Comparison table of PMD measurement methods

6. CONCLUSION:
Polarization Mode Dispersion affects the quality of optical signal severely. It is, thus essential to measure it to assess the existing networks, upgrade them to high speed optical networks and evaluate the requirement for compensations. Different solutions have different advantages and disadvantages. This paper has made efforts to find the appropriate solution and describes the PMD, its effects on optical networks and a number of ways to measure it.

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7. REFERENCES
[1] F. CURTI et al. "Statistical treatment of the evolution of the principal states of polarization in single-mode fibers" ; Journal of Light wave Technology, 8, pp. 1162-1166. (1990) [2] ITU-T Recommendation G.650.3 (2007) Test methods for installed single-mode fiber cable sections [3] Polarization-Mode Dispersion Measurement for SingleMode Optical Fibers by the Fixed Analyzer Method, draft TIA FOTP-113 (1997) [4] Polarization-Mode Dispersion Measurement for SingleMode Optical Fibers by Jones Matrix Eigen analysis, draft TIA FOTP-122-A (2002) [5] Polarization-Mode Dispersion Measurement for SingleMode Optical Fibers by the lnterferometric Method, draft TIA FOTP-124-A (2004)

devices Published large number of technical papers in IETE journals in addition to in-depth technology-reviews covering emerging trends in Communications and information technology. Since last three years, he is teaching at Ajay Kumar Garg Engineering College where, he is a Professor in the Department of Electronics Communications Engineering. He has abiding passion for teaching and research. Currently guiding M.Tech. and Ph.D. scholars besides supervising B.Tech. Projects. He is Life Fellow of the IETE and attended international conferences held in France, Singapore, USA, Hong Kong and Nepal.. Daily practices advanced meditation.

Bibliography
Prof. R L Sharma obtained his M. Tech degree in optoelectronics and optical fiber communication form Indian institute of technology Delhi in 1982. He has about 35 Years of rich experience in maintaining, supervising and managing large communication networks involving HF, VHF, UHF and Data communication spread over the entire country, particularly far-flung and remote areas of north eastern region and Jammu & Kashmir of India. For the past 3 years, he has been teaching optical fiber communication and optical networks in the department of ECE at A K G Engineering College, Ghaziabad, UP, INDIA. His research area is in the field of optical networks. He is the Life Fellow of IETE, India.

Dr Ranjit Singh obtained B.Tech. M.Tech. and Ph.D. degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur in 1969, 1971 and 1976 respectively. He specialized in the area of Electronic circuits and

2011 Journal of Computing Press, NY, USA, ISSN 2151-9617