Patent ID: 7174107

Claim:
An apparatus for measuring a set of frequency-resolved states of polarization of an optical signal comprising: a local oscillator, the local oscillator comprising an initial polarization state; a polarization scrambler, the polarization scrambler modulating the initial polarization state of the local oscillator to generate a polarization-scrambled signal; a coupler, the coupler mixing the polarization-scrambled signal with at least a fraction of the optical signal to generate a heterodyned signal, the heterodyned signal comprising a radio frequency signal component; and an analyzer including a polarization analyzer, a photodetector and a frequency analyzer, the polarization analyzer passing a fixed polarization component of the at least the fraction of the optical signal, the photodetector detecting and converting a fixed output state of polarization of the radio frequency signal component to an electrical signal, the frequency analyzer sampling the radio frequency signal component of the electrical signal in frequency, the analyzer resolving the fixed polarization component in frequency from the radio frequency signal component.