Mitigation of polarization impairments in optical fiber link

An optical data communication system, comprising:

• an optical transmitter;
• an optical receiver;
• and
• a polarization-maintaining optical data communication link extending from an optical output of the optical transmitter to an optical input of the optical receiver, the polarization-maintaining optical data communication link including a plurality of sections of polarization-maintaining optical fiber, wherein sequentially positioned sections of the plurality of sections of polarization-maintaining optical fiber are optically connected through a respective mechanical transfer connector, wherein the respective mechanical transfer connector has a non-zero amount of fiber-to-fiber misalignment that introduces a non-zero amount of optical coupling between polarizations, wherein each of the plurality of sections of polarization-maintaining optical fiber includes a separate polarizer configured to suppress a same one of two polarization modes, wherein the plurality of sections of polarization-maintaining optical fiber includes a first section that has a first length, wherein the plurality of sections of polarization-maintaining optical fiber includes a second section that has a second length that is at least three times greater than the first length of the first section, wherein the first section and the second section are sequentially positioned within the polarization-maintaining optical data communication link, and wherein the first section and the second section are optically connected through a first mechanical transfer connector.