Active polarization controlling in optical fiber links using optimization algorithms

Maintaining the state of polarization of a light beam in optical fiber links is a necessity for various applications. It is especially important for optical communication, polarization-based quantum key distribution, etc. There are several ways to compensate for polarization fluctuations, hence lowering the polarization drift error. In this paper, we have experimentally investigated the performance of two optimization algorithms for polarization compensation. We employed these algorithms to control an electrical polarization controller. Our results show that the particle swarm optimization and simulated annealing algorithms can efficiently compensate for polarization fluctuations and drifts. Thus, it is suitable for optical communication and quantum key distribution experiments.