Temperature dependence of polarization mode dispersion

The paper is focused on the polarization mode dispersion (PMD) in single mode optical fibers and its dependence on the temperature. Several long-time sets of measurements were performed in the temperature controlled box in the range of temperatures from -20°C up to +70°C. A couple types of single mode fibers were tested there and other types of the optical passive components typical for optical access networks were tested there also – several types of optical connectors, optical splitters, splices and complete optical distribution network. Each test took 12 hours and generalized interferometric method (GINTY) was used for PMD measurement. Finally, the measured data were processed. The goal of this paper is to find out an impact of the PMD for real conditions in the next-generation high speed optical access networks.