Patent ID: 7956993

Claim:
A method of determining a mean square differential group delay τ 2 RMS of at least one length of optical fiber, the method comprising: measuring a polarization mode dispersion vector as a function of frequency, using a frequency-domain polarization mode dispersion measurement apparatus; calculating a second-order polarization mode dispersion vector {right arrow over (τ)} ω as a function of frequency by calculating a derivative of the polarization mode dispersion vector with respect to frequency ω; calculating the mean of the magnitude of the second-order polarization mode dispersion vector |{right arrow over (τ)} ω | to obtain a first result, according to |{right arrow over (τ)} ω | ; multiplying a proportionality coefficient A 1 by the first result to calculate the mean square differential group delay, in accordance with the following equation: A 1 |{right arrow over (τ)} ω | =τ 2 RMS , (20) where A 1 is dimensionless, |{right arrow over (τ)} ω | is in units of second 2 and τ 2 RMS is in units of second 2 ; and outputting a value of said mean square differential group delay.