Adjustable compensation of polarization mode dispersion using a high-birefringence nonlinearly chirped fiber Bragg grating

We demonstrate an adjustable polarization-mode-dispersion (PMD) compensator. The device uses a nonlinearly chirped fiber Bragg grating written into a high-birefringence photosensitive fiber. By mechanically stretching the grating, the device generates a time delay between different polarizations that is adjustable from 100 to 320 ps and is tunable over 2.3 nm. We demonstrate tunable PMD compensation of a 10-Gb/s signal that has an initial delay between the two polarization states of 127 or 302 ps.