Measurement of the input states of polarization that maximize and minimize the eye opening in the presence of PMD and PDL

A new technique for finding the input states of polarization that maximize and minimize the eye opening in a system affected with high-order polarization mode dispersion (PMD) and polarization dependent loss (PDL) is demonstrated. The method is based on a recently introduced relation between the instantaneous intensity at the system output and the input state of polarization. Experimentally, the method was successfully checked in a 10-Gb/s nonreturn-to-zero link with both high-order PMD and PDL.