Analytical treatment of polarization-mode dispersion in single-mode fibersby means of the backscattered signal

We present analytical results on the polarization-mode dispersion character istics of single-mode birefringent fibers based on statistical properties o f the backscattered signal. In particular, we calculate exactly the relatio nship between polarization-mode dispersion characteristics in forward propa gation with respect to round-trip propagation in terms of dynamical equatio ns, differential group delays, correlation lengths, and second-order effect s. The theory applies to fibers affected by superposition of linear and cir cular birefringence in both the short-length and the long-length regimes. ( C) 1999 Optical Society of America [S0749-3232(99)00503-73].