Brillouin-Induced Dynamic Arbitrary Birefringence

A nonlinear method to generate and control both the type and magnitude of the birefringence, as well as differential group delay (DGD) in optical fibers is studied. Experiments show that both parameters of birefringence can be dynamically changed with only a slight variation of the SBS-induced gain of the system. The method is based on exploiting polarization dependence of stimulated Brillouin scattering in optical fibers. The generation of controlled DGD and DGD dispersion (DGDD) is also demonstrated. Proof-of-concept experiments are provided showing the feasibility of dynamically inducing linear, circular and elliptical birefringence, as well as DGD and DGDD.