High signal-to-noise ratio birefringence-compensated optical delay line based on a noise-reduction scheme

A multichannel fiber-optic delay-line architecture based on optical polarization switching is proposed that uses non-polarization-maintaining optical fibers. Critical birefringence-compensation and noise-reduction techniques are introduced and demonstrated for these delay lines, which show a high optical polarization extinction ratio (>39 dB) and a high electrical signal-to-noise ratio (>92 dB).