Patent ID: 7917031

Claim:
A method for stabilizing the state of polarization of polarization multiplexed optical radiation, said polarization multiplexed optical radiation comprising an identified channel which is provided with a pilot signal, comprising: (a) providing to the polarization multiplexed optical radiation a first controllable polarization transformation to generate a first transformed optical radiation; (b) measuring a first optical power of a first polarized portion of the first transformed optical radiation; (c) controlling, responsively to said first optical power, the first controllable polarization transformation so that the first transformed optical radiation has a predefined polarization azimuth; (d) providing to the first transformed optical radiation a second controllable polarization transformation to generate a second transformed optical radiation; (e) measuring a second optical power of a second polarized portion of the second transformed optical radiation; and (f) controlling, responsively to said second optical power, the second controllable polarization transformation so that the identified channel of the second transformed optical radiation has a predefined state of polarization.