7.1.4.2.

2 Polarization dependent loss (PDL)

Polarization dependent loss is defined in [ITU-T G.971] as the maximum variation of insertion loss
due to a variation of the state of polarization (SoP) over all SoPs. In amplified systems, one mode of
amplifier control is to operate at a constant signal power. Both the signal and noise are affected by
polarization dependent losses. However, because the noise is unpolarized, the signal and noise are
affected differently. The noise can be resolved into a component parallel to the signal and a
component orthogonal to the signal. It can be shown that the combined effect of PDL and optical
amplification is always to increase the component of the noise orthogonal to the signal. Furthermore,
the magnitude of the orthogonal noise component changes with time as the signal polarization
changes due to polarization mode dispersion. This leads to a reduction in the OSNR and the Q-value
at the receiver. Furthermore, the fluctuations time lead to fading of the OSNR and Q-value at the
receiver, both of which lead to an impairment in system performance.
The system penalties induced by the accumulated PDL of each optical component can be reduced by
minimizing the PDL of each of them. It should be noted that the impact of PDL on the system
performance increases as the number of amplifiers increases. In long submarine systems the
requirements are extremely tight, because the number of amplifiers can be several hundred.
Polarization modulation, or scrambling, has been shown to improve system performance by reducing
fluctuations and improving the average Q.
7.1.4.2.3 Polarization dependent gain (PDG)
Polarization dependent gain is defined in [ITU-T G.661] as the maximum variation of gain due to a
variation of the state of polarization of the input signal at nominal operating conditions. The system
penalties induced by polarization dependent gain are for further study.
7.1.4.3 Impairments due to the non-flatness of the cumulative gain curve
The impairments due to the non-flatness of the cumulative gain curve are linked to the non-optimal
pre-emphasis impairment (clause 7.1.4.4).
7.1.4.4 Non-optimal pre-emphasis impairment
Pre-equalization or pre-emphasis can be used at interface MPI-S to mitigate the impact of the amount
of in-line amplifier gain variation and gain tilt that can occur during propagation in the system.
Pre-emphasis partially compensates amplifier gain variation and gain tilt using the following scheme:
The highest optical power at MPI-S is assigned to the channel that will undergo the lowest in-line
amplifier gain, whereas the lowest optical power at MPI-S is assigned to the channel that will undergo
the higher in-line amplifier gain. The difference between the highest and the lowest optical power
values is called the pre-emphasis value, for each wavelength.
Thus channel power pre-emphasis allows equalizing system transmission performance of all
channels. Nevertheless, with the power level of each channel being different, the propagation in an
optical fibre will induce additional penalties.

28 G series – Supplement 41 (02/2018)