Abstract
We present the fabrication and use of plastic Photonic Band Gap Bragg fibers in photonic textiles for applications in interactive cloths, sensing fabrics, signage and art. In their cross section Bragg fibers feature periodic sequence of layers of two distinct plastics. Under ambient illumination the fibers appear colored due to optical interference in their microstructure. Importantly, no dyes or colorants are used in fabrication of such fibers, thus making the fibers resistant to color fading. Additionally, Bragg fibers guide light in the low refractive index core by photonic bandgap effect, while uniformly emitting a portion of guided color without the need of mechanical perturbations such as surface corrugation or microbending, thus making such fibers mechanically superior to the standard light emitting fibers. Intensity of side emission is controlled by varying the number of layers in a Bragg reflector. Under white light illumination, emitted color is very stable over time as it is defined by the fiber geometry rather than by spectral content of the light source. Moreover, Bragg fibers can be designed to reflect one color when side illuminated, and to emit another color while transmitting the light. By controlling the relative intensities of the ambient and guided light the overall fiber color can be varied, thus enabling passive color changing textiles. Additionally, by stretching a PBG Bragg fiber, its guided and reflected colors change proportionally to the amount of stretching, thus enabling visually interactive and sensing textiles responsive to the mechanical influence. Finally, we argue that plastic Bragg fibers offer economical solution demanded by textile applications.
Highlights
Driven by the consumer demand of unique appearance, increased performance and multifunctionality of the woven items, smart textiles became an active area of current research
As no chemical colorants are used in the fabrication of the Photonic Band Gap (PBG) fiber-based textiles, and as only white light sources are necessary to light them up, such textiles can prove to be more stable over the time and easier to maintain than their traditional counterparts
We have presented an implementation of a photonic textile based on plastic Photonic Band Gap Bragg fibers for potential applications in smart cloths, signage and art
Summary
Driven by the consumer demand of unique appearance, increased performance and multifunctionality of the woven items, smart textiles became an active area of current research. Among newly discovered functionalities we highlight real-time color-changing capability of PBG fiber-based textiles with potential applications in dynamic signage and environmentally adaptive coloration As it stands from their name, photonic textiles integrate light emitting or light processing elements into mechanically flexible matrix of a woven material, so that appearance or other properties of such textiles could be controlled or interrogated. Intensity of side emitted light can be controlled by choosing the number of layers in the microstructured region surrounding the optical fiber core Such fibers always emit a certain color sideways without the need of surface corrugation or microbending, promising considerably better fiber mechanical properties compared to TIR fibers adapted for illumination applications.
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