First-order PMD compensation in nonlinearly dispersive optical communication systems via transmission over the principal states of polarization

Soliton propagation in the presence of polarization mode dispersion (PMD) is studied with an analytical approach. It is shown that there exist two peculiar initial states of polarization that may prevent the soliton to undergo shape distortions. These states coincide with the states that, in the absence of chromatic dispersion and nonlinearity, are usually referred to as principal states of polarization. This fact is used to show that it is possible to improve the performance of an optical transmission system operating in the presence of chromatic dispersion, PMD and Kerr nonlinearity by coupling the input pulses to one of the principal states of polarization.