Table of Contents:

Definition and Overview

1. Introduction to PMD

2. Causes of PMD

3. Associated Effects of PMD

4. Network Impact

5. Potential Solutions

6. The PMD Compensator

7. Compensator's Place in Optical Networks

8. Economic Considerations

Self-Test

Glossary

PDF of this tutorial

ATM
asynchronous transfer mode

DGD
differential group delay

DWDM
dense wave division multiplexing

IP
Internet Protocol

O-E-O
optical-electrical-optical

PMD
polarization mode dispersion

PMDC
polarization mode dispersion compensator

POP
point of presence

Rx
receiver

SDH
synchronous digital hierarchy

SONET
synchronous optical network

SOPMD
second-order PMD

WDM
wavelength division multiplexing