Principles for electronic equalization of polarization-mode dispersion

System performance of optical fiber transmission in the presence of polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) can be improved by various types of electronic equalizers, which will be discussed in this paper. After a brief review of equalization and detection theory, equalizer concepts are adapted to the nonlinear optical channel and the architecture is optimized for high bit rate applications. Simulation results accounting for implementation losses in state-of-the-art technologies and realistic transmission conditions indicate that these concepts provide adequate solutions for equalization in lightwave transmission systems.