Fast and direct measurement of the linear birefringence profile in standard single-mode optical fibers

Phase birefringence in optical fibers typically fluctuates over their length due to geometrical imperfections induced from the drawing process or during installation. Currently commercially available fibers exhibit remarkably low birefringence, prompting a high standard for characterization methods. In this work, we detail a method that uses chirped-pulse phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry to directly measure position-resolved linear birefringence of single-mode optical fibers. The technique is suitable for fiber characterization over lengths of tens of kilometers, relying on a fast measurement (∼1 s) with single-ended access to the fiber. The proposed method is experimentally validated with three different commercial single-mode optical fibers.