REDUCING THE DISTORTION OF OPTICAL PULSES CAUSED BY THE POLARIZATION MODE DISPERSION IN OPTICAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

摘要

When an optical pulse having any polarization at all is transmitted through an optical communication system, which is optically anisotropic, at least in sections, the optical pulse generally becomes distorted due to the different velocities of the various polarization components. This distortion of the optical pulses reduces, in particular, the maximum transmission rate of the system. A remedy is provided, on the one hand, by a method where, functioning in response to the detected transmission quality of the communication system, a polarization-controlling device for setting the polarization of the optical pulse is driven in such a way that the transmission quality is maximized and, on the other hand, by an optical communication system, which includes an optical transmission medium, a device for determining the transmission quality of the communication system, a regulating device, and a polarization-controlling device. The output signal from the device for determining the transmission quality of the communication system is applied to the regulating device, which drives the polarization-controlling device to change the polarization of the optical pulses in such a way that the transmission quality is optimized.