Evaluation of the residual birefringence of single-mode erbium-doped silica fibers

We present a nondestructive method that allows the spectral birefringence characterization of single-mode erbium-doped fibers within the amplification band. Using the same optical set up and the predicted polarization eigenmodes, the quality of the results has been verified. The results obtained for three commercial erbium-doped fibers with different erbium concentrations are shown. For two of them, the values measured for the elliptical birefringence shift, for different signal wavelengths, from having a dominant circular component to exhibit a dominant linear component.