Passive single-mode fiber depolarizer

We analyze and demonstrate a passive single-mode fiber depolarizer by using cascaded 2 x 2 couplers, recirculating delay lines, and a commercial laser diode. Design criteria and principles are discussed. We reduced the degree of polarization (DOP) to less than 20 dB by using ten cascaded couplers. The DOP can be reduced even further with more couplers. Experiments illustrate that this depolarizer is insensitive to the input polarization state and can eliminate polarization noise in a polarization-sensitive fiber-optic system. (C) 1999 Optical Society of America.