A New Distributed Measurement of Birefringence Vectors by P-OTDR Assisted by a High Speed Polarization Analyzer

A new polarimetric optical time domain reflectometry (P-OTDR) measurement device assisted by a high speed polarization analyzer is designed and a new algorithm, which can be used to accurately measure the birefringence vector, is proposed. In this method, only one measurement is required and the result is insensitive to the input state of polarization. An 1-km single mode fiber (SMF) is measured and the distribution of the local birefringence vector along the SMF is obtained with a resolution of 2 cm.