Statistical properties of polarization mode dispersion

Polarization mode dispersion (PMD) is one of the effects which limit bit rates in optical communications systems. The statistics of PMD is complicated because it is multi-dimensional, however, many useful results have been obtained. Much work has been done, but the subject is not yet closed, as witnessed by the existence of this conference. In this talk I will review the way some statistical equations are treated. I will briefly discuss the methods of Ito and Lax, and their application to the PMD problem.