F. Bruyere et al., DEMONSTRATION OF AN OPTIMAL POLARIZATION SCRAMBLER FOR LONG-HAUL OPTICAL AMPLIFIER SYSTEMS, IEEE photonics technology letters, 6(9), 1994, pp. 1153-1155
Polarization scrambling of the input signal in a long-haul erbium-dope
d fiber amplifier (EDFA) system is studied both experimentally and the
oretically. Demonstration of an optimal polarization scrambler is achi
eved ensuring complete suppression of the signal decay caused by polar
ization dependent gain (PDG) in EDFAs. Best performance of the system
is attained without imposing severe requirements on the polarization s
crambler in terms of residual degree of polarization. Close agreement
between measurements and calculations provides a valuable validation o
f the assumed linear dependency of the PDG differential gain with the
degree of polarization of the light.