Importance sampling for polarization-mode dispersion: techniques and applications

The basic theory of importance sampling (IS) as relevant to polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) in optical fibers is discussed, and its application to Monte Carlo (MC) simulations of PMD-induced transmission impairments is demonstrated. The use of IS allows rare PMD events to be simulated much more efficiently than with standard MC methods. As a consequence, methods employing IS provide natural and effective tools to assess PMD-induced impairments and outages in optical transmission systems at realistic probability levels.