Fully-distributed polarization properties of an optical fibre using the backscattering technique

The new Polarization-OTDR (Optical Time-Domain Reflectometry) technique theoretically and numerically described in this paper is based on the fact that the polarization state evolution of the backscattered signal gives information about the distribution of the fibre birefringence along its length. The knowledge of full polarization properties of a single-mode optical fibre can be very useful for determining the Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD), which has become an important limiting factor in high capacity optical communications systems. Another interesting application is the possible realisation of fully-distributed optical-fibre sensor (FDOFS). Simulations have been done and gave promising results.