The objective of this proposal is to theoretically analyze the effects of polarization mode dispersion (PMD) on various types of coherent optical receivers. The research will determine how the bit error rate depends on the transmitting and local laser spectral widths, the length of the optical transmission link, and the PMD properties of the fiber. This will be important for the very long links that are now possible with fiber amplifiers. The analysis will be performed on all major types of receivers that process polarization and polarization combined with phase or frequency. This includes: 1) polarization diversity receivers using ASK, FSK and DPSK demodulation, with and without phase diversity, 2) receivers that use polarization controllers, and 3) receivers that do polarization demodulation. Polarization mode dispersion is defined as the difference in group delay between the two principal states of polarization of a fiber. The principal states are used as basis vectors in the analysis. Stokes parameters are also used.
