Devices and techniques for generating and analyzing states of polarization in light using multiple adjustable polarization rotators in various applications.

Optical instrument and measurements using multiple tunable optical polarization rotators

Devices, systems and techniques for optical communication are provided based on polarization division multiplexing (PDM) to use an optical monitor channel at a distinct optical monitor wavelength to monitor optical polarization fluctuation and polarization mode dispersion during the transmission from the transmitter to the receiver to facilitate the effective demultiplexing of the two orthogonal signal channels at the receiver through automatic feedback control on a dynamic polarization controller and a polarization beam splitter.

Optical polarization division multiplexing in optical communication

This application describes optical monitoring devices and applications in optical systems for monitoring various optical parameters of light, including the signal to noise ratio, the degree of polarization, and the differential group delay (DGD).

Monitoring mechanisms for optical systems

Polarization measurement and self-calibration based on multiple tunable optical polarization rotators

The authors describe a fast spectral polarimeter operating in the lightwave communications band capable of measuring both state-of-polarization and degree-of-polarization of hundreds (up to thousands) of spectral components in parallel within milliseconds. In this paper, the design incorporates fast switching ferroelectric liquid crystals for polarization component selection on the 100-mus scale. Dispersion elements and an arrayed detector are used for wavelength-parallel sensing. Bandwidth of coverage can be scaled from a single wavelength-division multiplexed channel to more than 100 nm, and 256 spectral polarization measurements in under 1 ms are verified. Finally, a calibration algorithm is used to minimize measurement error. This instrument offers unprecedented sensing capability relevant to the monitoring and compensation of polarization-related impairments in high-speed lightwave communications

A Complete Spectral Polarimeter Design for Lightwave Communication Systems

Techniques and systems for dynamically controlling polarization of an optical signal by using various feedback controls, and by combining both feed-forward and feedback controls. Various dynamic control algorithms for such systems and other optical systems have been disclosed.

Methods and systems for dynamic control of polarization of an optical signal

We report an all solid-state polarization-state generator that uses magneto-optic polarization rotators. The device can generate either five or six distinctive polarization states uniformly across a Poincare sphere with repeatability better than 0.1°. It is ideal for polarization analysis, swept-wavelength measurement, and monitoring of polarization-related parameters and signal-to-noise ratios of optical networks.

Yongqiang Shi

Papers

Methods and systems for dynamic control of polarization of an optical signal

Highly repeatable all-solid-state polarization-state generator.