Optical implementation of a space-time-trellis code for enhancing the tolerance of systems to polarization-dependent loss

We propose a space-time coding scheme designed to increase the tolerance of fiber-optic communications systems to polarization-dependent loss (PDL). A notable increase in the tolerable amount of average link PDL is achieved without affecting the complexity of the overall optical communications link. Other advantages include seamless integration with the broadly deployed blind equalization modules relying on the constant modulus algorithm.