Least-squares analysis of the Mueller matrix

Area of Science:

• Optical physics
• Fiber optics engineering
• Polarization optics

Background:

• Single-mode optical fibers exhibit frequency-dependent polarization changes.
• Characterizing these changes is crucial for optical communication systems.
• Polarization mode dispersion (PMD) and polarization-dependent loss (PDL) are key fiber impairments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a straightforward method for estimating the Mueller matrix of a single-mode fiber.
• To apply this matrix estimation to quantify PMD and PDL.
• To compare the effectiveness of the proposed method with existing techniques.

Main Methods:

• Exciting a single-mode fiber with light of fixed polarization.
• Measuring output Stokes vectors at two optical frequencies for various input polarization states.
• Employing least-squares procedures to estimate the Mueller matrix from measurement data.

Main Results:

• A simple least-squares formalism was developed for Mueller matrix estimation.
• The method was successfully applied to determine PMD and PDL.
• Results obtained were comparable to those from more complex methods.

Conclusions:

• The proposed least-squares method offers an efficient way to characterize fiber polarization properties.
• This formalism simplifies the determination of critical optical fiber parameters like PMD and PDL.
• The technique provides accurate results with a relatively simple implementation.