Scalable polarization-mode dispersion emulator with proper first- and second-order statistics

We present a novel polarization-mode dispersion emulator design that overcomes the scalability issue limiting conventional concatenated-section emulators by replacing the multiple mode coupling stages with a single modified Lefe/spl grave/vre polarization controller (PC). We demonstrate that undesirable correlation in the sections PC transfer functions can be mitigated through proper optimization of the free design parameters. Monte Carlo simulations and experimental results confirm that first- and second-order statistics for rare events are accurately emulated in a compact low-cost device.