OPTICAL NETWORK WITH POLARIZATION DIVERSITY

The present invention relates to an optical network, comprising a fiber optic path (12). The fiber optic path (12) comprises a first fiber optic branch (14) and a second fiber optic branch (16) separate from the first fiber optic branch (14), at least one optical switch (18) to toggle between input of light into the first fiber optic branch (14) and input into the second fiber optic branch (16), a polarization beam combiner (20) on an output side of the first and second fiber optic branches (14, 16), and at least one polarization controller (24, 26; 70) for controlling polarization in the fiber optic path (12). The optical network further comprises an optical power measuring modality (32) for measuring the optical output power of the polarization beam combiner (20). The optical network may be used in OFDR. Further, an OFDR system, an OSS system and a method of creating time-multiplexed orthogonal polarization states of light in a fiber optic network (10) are described.