Abstract: A state-of-polarization (SOP)-independent device 226, 326 and method for determining polarization mode dispersion (PMD) in an optical communication system having an optical transmission line, including a detector 244, 344 coupleable to the optical transmission line, where the detector 244, 344 is capable of analyzing a pulse shape of an optical signal on the optical transmission line to determine PMD of the optical signal. A corrector 246, 346 may be coupled to the detector 244, 344, where the corrector 246, 346 is capable of compensating the optical signal for the determined PMD. A controller 242, 342 may be coupled to the detector 244, 344 and the corrector 246, 346. The pulse shape may comprise an eye diagram, which may contain a first peak and a second peak due to PMD, where the PMD determined by the detector 244, 344 is a function of the distance between the detected first and second peaks, which is indicative of a time delay between the detected first and second peaks.

Abstract: A method, a system and a computer program product configured to determine a differential group delay of two sequential optical beams based on a frequency dependence of a length of an optical path traveled by the two sequential optical beams in a dispersion compensation grating. The determined differential group delay provides a measure of polarization mode dispersion in the dispersion compensation grating.