Polarization mode dispersion in chirped fiber Bragg gratings.

We clarify the relationship between group delay ripple and differential group delay in birefringent, chirped fiber Bragg gratings and relate this information to polarization mode dispersion. We illustrate that a grating can be characterized completely by measuring the grating phase ripple and fiber birefringence with careful selection of measurement system parameters. The impact of these imperfections on device performance as dispersion compensators in optical communications systems is explored with system testbed simulations and measurements.