High-Accuracy Distributed Polarization Crosstalk Measurements Based on White Light Interferometry

An improved integrating power method is proposed to enhance the accuracy of distributed polarization crosstalk measurements of the polarization maintaining fiber (PMF). This method obtains crosstalk via calculating the power of the interference peaks. However, when the coupling coefficients of the crosstalk points are weak enough, the amplitudes of the interferogram are vulnerable to the noise. It will diminish the accuracy of the crosstalk measurement. When the coupling is excessive, the crosstalk calculated by the method is inconsistent with the true value because the coupling mode cannot be ignored compared to the exciting mode. The theoretical analysis and experimental results demonstrated that the error sources can be predicted and then be eliminated by using the methods proposed in this paper.