| Abstract: | Polarization mode dispersion (PMD) measurements are presented for a sample of installed optical fibers. High PMD values are fairly common, with 9 of the 71 fibers having PMD coefficients above 0.3 ps km1 2. The results are analyzed in terms of the age of the fibers and the type of cabling. Measurements are presented for a number of concatenated fiber links, and the results show that the PMD value of the link is approximately equal to the square root of the sum of the squares of the PMD values of the individual fibers. |
