Polarization properties of optical fibers

Summary form only given. The paper discusses particular polarization properties of optical fibers and presents the general approaches of their polarization phenomena description. The first one treats an optical fiber as an optical waveguide in which light can be guided in the form of waveguide modes. This approach identifies basic polarization eigenmodes of a fiber and relates them to the polarization state of the guided light. Changes in output polarization are described in terms of polarization-mode coupling due to birefringence changes acting as perturbations along the fiber. The polarization coupling is described by the coupled mode theory. Another approach treats an optical fiber like any other optical device which transmits light and the fiber can be divided into separated sections behaving like polarization state shifters. The paper describes three general formalisms of polarization evolution in a fiber: the Jones method, the Stokes Mueller formalism, and the Poincare´s sphere representation