Polarization Drift Channel Model for Coherent Fibre-Optic Systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel stochastic model for polarization drift in coherent fibre-optic systems, capturing the random evolution of polarization states on the Poincaré sphere, verified with experimental data.

Contribution

It presents the first comprehensive stochastic polarization drift model applicable to coherent fibre-optic systems, extending phase noise models to higher dimensions.

Findings

Model accurately emulates polarization drift as a random walk on the Poincaré sphere

Verified model aligns with experimental data

Provides a foundation for simulating polarization effects in future optical systems

Abstract

A theoretical framework is introduced to model the dynamical changes of the state of polarization during transmission in coherent fibre-optic systems. The model generalizes the one-dimensional phase noise random walk to higher dimensions, accounting for random polarization drifts, emulating a random walk on the Poincar\'e sphere, which has been successfully verified using experimental data. The model is described in the Jones, Stokes and real four-dimensional formalisms, and the mapping between them is derived. Such a model will be increasingly important in simulating and optimizing future systems, where polarization-multiplexed transmission and sophisticated digital signal processing will be natural parts. The proposed polarization drift model is the first of its kind as prior work either models polarization drift as a deterministic process or focuses on polarization-mode dispersion in systems where the state of polarization does not affect the receiver performance. We expect the model to be useful in a wide-range of photonics applications where stochastic polarization fluctuation is an issue.