Impact of the distribution pattern of fast polarization scrambler on the performance of PMD mitigation with FEC for DQPSK optical system

The combination of fast polarization scrambler (FPS) and forward error correction (FEC) is one of the methods to mitigate the polarization mode dispersion (PMD) in high-speed optical fiber communication systems. The effect of the different distribution patterns of FPS on PMD mitigation with FEC is investigated. A comparison of the bit error rates (BERs) between two cases where the distributed FPS is absent and present along the fiber is carried out by simulation. A novel representation called the 'ring chart' to assess the performance of different distribution patterns intuitively is proposed. The results show that the distribution pattern is an impact factor for this PMD mitigation scheme.