Patent ID: 8705977

Claim:
An apparatus for adaptive equalization of polarization mode dispersion in an optical signal, comprising: an input configured to receive multiple input channels corresponding to digitized versions of in-phase and quadrature channels of horizontal and vertical polarity optical signals; an error calculation module configured to determine combined tap energies for a first subset and a second subset of filter taps of a filter for one of the input channels, the first subset comprising filter taps on a first side from an axis point and the second subset comprising filter taps on a second side from the axis point, wherein a relationship between the combined tap energies for the first and second subsets of filter taps defines a center of mass for the filter; and a center of mass adjustment module configured to shift the center of mass for the filter when combined tap energies of the first subset of filter taps exceed combined tap energies of the second subset of filter taps by a predetermined threshold.