Automatic PMD compensator in a 160-Gb/s OTDM transmission over deployed fiber using RZ-DPSK modulation format

We report on a magneto- and electro-optically tuned dynamic PMD compensator that enabled error-free single-channel 160 Gb/s RZ-DPSK transmission over a 75 km SMF link with a mean DGD of more than 30 percent of the bit period. Polarization scrambling and DOP measurements were utilized to automatically adapt the compensator. We present BER measurements and describe the operation of the compensator in detail.