Temporal self-imaging effect in a polarization mode dispersion context

The temporal self-imaging effect, also named temporal Talbot effect, occurs when periodic trains of optical pulses propagate through a first-order dispersive medium. In a first-order approximation, the optical fiber birefringence causes the splitting of the pulse into two orthogonal modes that propagate at different velocities resulting in pulse distortion. The so-called PMD emulators are devices aimed to compensate for the impairments produced by pulse waveform degradation due to propagation in fibers with PMD.