Abstract:
An optical fiber including: (i) a silica based, rare earth doped core (12) having a first index of refraction n1; (ii) a silica based inner cladding (14) surrounding the core and having a second index of refraction n2, such that n1>n2, the inner cladding having a plurality of air holes (24, 26) extending longitudinally through the length of the optical fiber; (iii) a silica based outer cladding (16) surrounding the inner cladding and having a third index of refraction n3, such that n2>n3; wherein the optical fiber supports a single polarization mode within the operating wavelength range.
Abstract:
A method for screening fiber polarization mode dispersion using a polarization optical time domain reflectometer. A pulse radiation is emitted into the fiber under test, and the backscattered radiation is measured by the POTDR and used to obtain a POTDR trace. The POTDR trace is then analyzed to compare the variation of signals along the length of the fiber, the variation in signals relating to the level of PMD along the length of the fiber. Because high levels of PMD correspond to localized levels of low variability, by setting the variability of signal threshold sufficiently low, fibers having unacceptably high localized PMD can be identified and removed.
Abstract:
A method for screening fiber polarization mode dispersion using a polarization optical time domain reflectometer. A pulse radiation is emitted into the fiber under test, and the backscattered radiation is measured by the POTDR and used to obtain a POTDR trace. The POTDR trace is then analyzed to compare the variation of signals along the length of the fiber, the variation in signals relating to the level of PMD along the length of the fiber. Because high levels of PMD correspond to localized levels of low variability, by setting the variability of signal threshold sufficiently low, fibers having unacceptably high localized PMD can be identified and removed.