Effects of nonlinear crosstalk in optical PMD compensation

We report on the effects of nonlinear crosstalk on the optical polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) compensation in wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) systems. An analytical model is presented to describe the effect of nonlinear crosstalk on the first-order PMD compensation. We also experimentally show that the performance of WDM systems could be degraded by nonlinear birefringence, even when the first-order PMD is completely compensated.