Step-index Polymer Optical Fiber Research Articles

Polymer optical fiber with high thermal stability and low optical losses based on novel densely crosslinked polycarbosiloxanes

A multimode step-index polymer optical fiber has been developed based on a highly crosslinked polycarbosiloxane as the core material and a fluorinated polyolefin (poly(fluoroethylene-co-fluoropropylene)-FEP) cladding layer. The combination offered a system with a high thermal stability, both optically and dimensionally, up to at least 200°C. The polymer optical fiber was produced by injection of a poly(phenylmethylvinylhydro) siloxane crosslinkable prepolymer in an FEP tubing, after which the prepolymer was cured in situ. From attenuation measurements losses as low as 0.98 dB/m at 780 nm were found. The refractive indices of the core material and the cladding are 1.48 and 1.30, respectively. The large difference in refractive index results in a high value for the numerical aperture of 0.70. The prepolymer is a single-component, self-crosslinking, and conveniently processable system. The combination of a low attenuation and easy processability makes these materials very suitable not only for polymer optical fibers, but for all kinds of optical components.

Mode coupling and equilibrium mode distribution conditions in plastic optical fibers

The equilibrium mode distribution (EMD) condition is critical for optical fiber measurements. In this letter, we examine the achievement of EMD condition inside plastic optical fibers (POF's) under different launch conditions. Our pulse broadening measurements of step-index (SI) POF's as a function of fiber length show that the EMD condition can readily be achieved in an SI POF much shorter than in glass optical fibers. The observation of the EMD condition was also independently verified using the far-field pattern technique.

Broadband tunable optical amplification in rhodamine b-doped step-index polymer optical fibre

Step-index polymer optical fibre doped with Rhodamine B at 2500 ppm level is fabricated. Using the fibre, we have achieved high-gain and high-efficiency optical amplification with a tunable wavelength range from 610 nm to 640 nm, which is significantly red-shifted toward the centre of the communication window (at 650 nm wavelength) of methyl methacrylate-based polymer optical fibre.

Dye-doped step-index polymer optical fiber for broadband optical amplification

We report the development of a novel and simple technique for fabricating polymer optical fibers of good optical quality for special device applications. This technique aims at polymer fibers doped with various functional organic materials. On the basis of the technique, step-index polymer optical fibers doped with laser dyes have been fabricated. High-gain and high-efficiency optical amplification has been achieved in a Rhodamine B-doped polymer fiber with a low pump power of less 1 kW and pulse width 5 ns. Because a high dye concentration is used, the optimal wavelength range of optical amplification in this fiber is significantly red-shifted toward the center of the communication window (at 650 nm wavelength) of methyl methacrylate-based polymer optical fiber. The shift is from the originally 560 and 590 nm to presently 610 to 640 nm. We also present experimental results that show good photostability of the Rhodamine B-doped polymer fiber, compared with those recently reported in the improved polymer material systems. From the experimental observation, we identified the thermally induced bleach of dye molecules as the major contributing factor to the lifetime of our material system.

High-bandwidth graded-index polymer optical fiber

High-bandwidth (2 GHz/spl middot/km) graded-index polymer optical fiber (GI POF) was successfully obtained by the new interfacial-gel polymerization technique in which the unreactive component was used in order to obtain the quadratic refractive-index distribution. This high-bandwidth GI POF makes it possible to transmit high-speed optical signals in the short range network which was not covered by the step-index type POF commercially available. The high bandwidth GI POF will open the way for great advantages in the high-speed multimedia network.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

High-bandwidth, high-numerical aperture graded-index polymer optical fiber

A new large core (0.5-1.0 mm) graded-index polymer optical fiber was proposed to solve the connection problem of the single-mode silica fiber indoor use for high speed multimedia network. The bending loss for 10-mm bending diameter was dramatically decreased from 20 dB to less than 1 dB by preparing the high numerical aperture graded-index polymer optical fiber. The bandwidth was 585.2 MHz km which was one hundred times larger than that of any existent step-index polymer optical fibers, and the attenuation was 150 dB/km at 650-nm wavelength. >

The limits of plastic optical fiber for short distance high-speed computer data links

Abstract The attenuation and dispersion of commercially available all-plastic step-index optical fiber are the major factors limiting the maximum achievable transmission distance and bit rate; this article explores these limits. Calculations predict that ∼ 500 Mb/s transmission over 100 m of standard 0.47 NA step-index PMMA POF at 650 nm is feasible, and recent experimental results at up to 400 Mb/s are briefly described. The implications of having a lower loss, higher bandwidth POF, for example, perfluorinated, graded-index PMMA, arc discussed.

Graded-Index and Single-Mode Polymer Optical Fibers

ABSTRACTHigh-bandwidth graded-index (GI) polymer optical fiber (POF) and single-mode POF with good mechanical properties were successfully obtained by our interfacial-gel polymerization technique. The bandwidth of the GI POF is about 1 GHz · km which is two hundred times larger than that of the conventional step-index (SI) POF. The minimum attenuation of transmission is 56 dB/km at 688-nm wavelength and 94 dB/km at 780-nm wavelength. The single-mode POF in which the core diameter was 3–15 μ m and the attenuation of transmission was 200 dB/km at 652-nm wavelength was successfully obtained for the first time.