Polarization-division multiplexed (PDM) optical signals can potentially be demultiplexed by coherent detection and digital signal processing without using optical dynamic polarization control at the receiver. In this paper, we show that optical communications using PDM is analogous to wireless communications using multiple-input-multiple-output ( MIMO) antennae and thus algorithms for channel estimation in wireless MIMO can be ready applied to optical polarization MIMO (PMIMO). Combined with frequency offset and phase estimation algorithms, simulations show that PDM quadrature phase-shift keying signals can be coherently detected by the proposed scheme using commercial semiconductor lasers while no optical phase locking and polarization control are required. This analogy further suggests the potential application of space-time coding in wireless communications to optical polarization MIMO systems and relates the problem of polarization-mode dispersion in fiber transmission to the multi-path propagation in wireless communications
