Patent ID: 7403717

Claim:
A polarization mode dispersion (PMD) compensation apparatus for compensating for polarization mode dispersion occurring in an optical fiber of an optical transmission system so as to provide a compensated output signal to an optical receiver, said PMD compensation apparatus comprising: a polarization controller having a first set of piezoelectric actuators and a variable delay line having a second set of piezoelectric actuators; a feedback unit, having an apparatus for generating a plurality of independent control signals, wherein said apparatus for generating a plurality of independent control signals further comprises: a photodetector for converting a portion of the output signal to an electrical signal, and a multi-parameter measurement processor for processing the electrical signal to adjust the first set and second set of piezoelectric actuators of the polarization controller and the variable delay line, the multi-parameter measurement processor including: a splitter for dividing the electrical signal into two signals, a pair of spectral filters for filtering the two electrical signals at F 1 and F 2 , respectively, and a detector for converting the filtered electrical signals to dithering signals, each at a different frequency, wherein the intensity and phase of each of the dithering signals is then detected and processed to determine the independent control signals for independently adjusting each of said first set and second set of piezoelectric actuators.