Statistical treatment of polarization dispersion in single-mode fiber

Polarization dispersion in single-mode fiber with random polarization mode coupling is given a statistical treatment based on the recently proposed principal-states model. An expression for the ensemble variance of the differential delay time between the principal states of polarization is derived by using coupled-mode theory under the assumption of weak coupling. For long fiber lengths, the variance is shown to have a linear dependence on length while the probability density function for the delay time approaches a Gaussian shape.