PMD emulators and signal distortion in 2.48-Gb/s IM-DD lightwave systems

Effects of polarization mode dispersion (PMD) on 2.48 Gb/s IM-DD lightwave systems are experimentally observed by using PMD emulators made with segments of highly birefringent fiber with random-mode coupling splices. Random birefringence between mode couplings was also included in the emulator. The measurements indicate that the eye diagram is corrupted by PMD values above 10 ps.