Improved optical compensator for first- and second-order polarization-mode dispersion

We present an improved transfer matrix for optical compensation of first- and second-order polarization-mode dispersion (PMD), which efficiently offsets the average third- and higher order PMD in the fiber. Numerical simulations reveal that this compensator performs substantially better than other previously known schemes, at least in digital transmission systems using conventional return-to-zero and nonreturn-to-zero formatted signals. This superior performance is largely achieved by employing an empirically determined average frequency dependence for the cross coupling between signals components in the two principal states of polarization.