Influence of polarization mode dispersion value in dispersion-compensating fibers on the polarization dependence of Raman gain

Polarization mode dispersion (PMD) of amplifying or transmitting fibers may significantly change the polarization dependence of Raman gain. Experimental results are presented that show low polarization dependence of the Raman gain in dispersion-compensating fibers with high PMD values for both copropagating and counterpropagating pumping configurations. The measured data demonstrate that it is possible to avoid the need for depolarization of a pump source in Raman amplifiers.