Time evolution of polarization mode dispersion in optical fibers

The fluctuation of polarization mode dispersion (PMD) due to environmental change is an important issue for fiber-optic communication systems. We measure the time evolution of PMD for installed aerial and buried cables and for a spooled fiber in a temperature controlled chamber. The results show that PMD fluctuates much more rapidly for aerial cables than for buried cables. The magnitude of PMD is different for the three fibers and our results also show that the magnitude of PMD fluctuation depends on the magnitude of the PMD.