Continuous-wave backreflection measurement of polarization mode dispersion

Experimental results of continuous-wave polarization mode dispersion (PMD) measurements are presented. The proposed technique is based on the backscattered signal given by the Fresnel reflection at the fiber far-end. Experimental statistical distribution of the differential group delay of the round-trip is reported. It presents a Rayleigh distribution whose mean value is simply related to the fiber mean differential group delay. Finally, the statistical distribution of the round-trip dispersion vector is found experimentally and numerically. The proposed method can be easily used for one-end measurement of PMD in installed optical cables.