Polarization Measurements on a 147 km Lightwave Undersea Cable

We recently completed a comprehensive series of polarization measurements on a 147 km cable[l] at 1.54 μm while it was being installed in the Pacific as part of a repeaterless undersea system. These measurements involved real-time characterization of polarization dependent loss fluctuations, the state of polarization, and cross polarization interference under practical operating conditions. In these experiments we had the capability of detecting fluctuations in these parameters up to a bandwidth of about 150 Hz.