PMD mitigation using 3R regeneration based on EAM with wavelength conversion

Polarization mode dispersion (PMD) mitigation is performed using an optical 3R (re-amplification, reshaping, re-timing) regenerator based on electro-absorption modulator (EAM) with wavelength conversion. System performance without and with 3R regeneration was separately studied by eye analysis and bit-error rate (BER) measurements. The signal quality was significantly improved by 3R regeneration under serious first order PMD (up to 40% of the bit interval) combined with second order PMD (up to about 520 ps2). The PMD mitigation margin of the proposed method is also investigated by measuring the sensitivity at BER 10-10. Further studies indicate that 3R regenerators have the potential to combat with the effects of PMD combined with polarization dependent loss (PDL) and polarization hole-burning (PHB).