fiber 402 includes stress applying parts 404 and 406 and a core 408 all disposed within first pm fiber 402 as known in the art first pm fiber 402 has a corresponding fast axis 412 and a corresponding slow axis 410 fig4 also includes a second fiber 414 second pm fiber 414 includes stress applying parts 416 and 418 and a core 420 all disposed within second pm fiber 414 as known in the art second pm fiber 414 also has a corresponding fast axis 423 and a corresponding slow axis 422 typically first and second pm fibers 402 and 414 are laid adjacent to each other and affixed to each other with an adhesive standard in the art such as epoxy the pm fibers are then disposed within a ferrule 428 a typical ferrule 428 usually has an rectangular opening 430 to accommodate both the first and second pm fibers 402 and 414 of particular relevance to the present invention is the effect of affixing pm fibers to each other has on the er factor of the pm fibers the inventors of the present application have discovered that when first and second pm fibers are affixed to each other the stress of the process forms a secondary fast axis 424 and a secondary slow axis 426 within the pigtail pair 400 these secondary axes optically affect both first and second pm fibers 402 and 414 additionally as can be seen by inspection of fig4 if first and second pm fibers 402 and 414 are disposed in an arbitrary manner then the secondary fast and slow axes 424 and 426 may intersect the corresponding fast and slow axes of the first and.