Polarization mode dispersion mapping in optical fibers with a polarization-OTDR

We describe a technique for the measurement of the polarization mode dispersion distribution along an optical fiber link based on a polarization optical time-domain reflectometer technique setup. This technique does not require the complete measurement of the polarization state of the backscattered signal. We report results performed on different types of fibers: standard step index, dispersion shifted, and dispersion compensating fibers.