A Tunable Multiwavelength Fiber Ring Laser for Measuring Polarization-Mode Dispersion in Optical Fibers

Abstract

We describe and demonstrate a tunable triple-wavelength erbium-doped fiber ring laser along with a method of measuring polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) in optical fibers based on a broad-band orthogonal-pump four-wave mixing in a semiconductor optical amplifier. The measured PMD results for optical fibers are in good agreement with values measured by means of commercial PMD testing equipment.