Transmission of linearly polarized light through a single-mode fiber with random fluctuations of birefringence

A simple theoretical formalism is developed to describe the effect of trans mission on linearly polarized light through a fiber with random fluctuation s of birefringence. We conclude that, for any optical fiber that does not e xperience polarization-dependent gain or loss, there exist two orientations for linearly polarized Light input into the optical fiber that will also e xit the fiber linearly polarized. We report experimental results that verif y this prediction and also investigate its practical implications and limit ations; in particular we investigate the stability of these Linearly polari zed output states in laboratory conditions. (C) 1999 Optical Society of Ame rica.