Patent ID: 7024058

Claim:
An apparatus for compensating polarization mode dispersion (PMD), the apparatus comprising: a polarization adjusting means for adjusting polarization states of an optical beam having a differential group delay (DGD) into a predetermined polarization states based on a polarization adjusting feedback control signal; a polarization beam splitting means for splitting principal states of polarization (PSP) of the adjusted optical beam from the polarization adjusting means into a first polarization and a second polarization and transmitting the first polarization and the second polarization through a first routine and a second routine, respectively; a time delaying means for delaying the first polarization based on a time delay feedback control signal; a polarization adjustment controlling means for controlling the polarization adjusting means based on a polarization adjusting feedback control signal in order to converge electric power into a minimum value by measuring the electric power of tapped electric signal and comparing current value with previous value of the electric power, wherein the tapped electric signal is photo-electrically converted from the second polarization tapped by an optical tap; a time delay controlling means for controlling the time delaying means based on a time delay controlling feedback signal so that electric power is converged into a maximum value by measuring the electric power of a combined electric signal and comparing current value with previous value of the electric power, wherein the combined electric signal is combined after photo-electrically converting the first polarization and the second polarization; and an electric combining means for combining a time-compensated first polarization and the second polarization transmitted through the optical tap.