Impact of SOIP on optical transmission system with first- and second-order PMD

A new approach is proposed that allows one to qualify the impact of state of input polarization (SOIP) on a 10-Gb/s optical transmission system using a polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) emulator with first- and second-order PMD for the first time. Through experimentations, we found that the system Q penalty as a function of SOIPs denoted by Stokes' vector is symmetrical by the S/sub 1/-O-S/sub 2/, S/sub 1/-O-S/sub 3/, and S/sub 2/-O-S/sub 3/ planes in Stokes' space when first-order PMD is only taken into account; but this kind of symmetry will be broken when second-order PMD is added. Also, an excellent linear fitting between maximum and average Q penalty is obtained in experiments with a PMD emulator for a group of SOIPs uniformly distributed on the Poincare/spl acute/ sphere.