Novel method for manufacturing optical fiber: extrusion and drawing of microstructured polymer optical fibers from a 3D printer

Talataisong, Wanvisa; Ismaeel, Rand; Sandoghchi, Seyed Reza; Rutirawut, Teerapat; Topley, Glenn; Beresna, Martynas; Brambilla, Gilberto. 2018 Novel method for manufacturing optical fiber: extrusion and drawing of microstructured polymer optical fibers from a 3D printer. Optics Express, 26 (24). 32007. https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.26.032007

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OE.26.032007

Abstract/Summary

Microstructured polymer optical fibers (MPOFs) have long attracted great interest due to their wide range of applications in biological and chemical sensing. In this manuscript, we demonstrate a novel technique of manufacturing MPOF via a single-step procedure by means of a 3D printer. A suspended-core polymer optical fiber has been extruded and directly drawn from a micro-structured 3D printer nozzle by using an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) polymer. Near-field imaging at the fiber facet performed at the wavelength λ~1550 nm clearly indicates guidance in the fiber core. The propagation loss has been experimentally demonstrated to be better than α = 1.1 dB/cm. This work points toward direct MPOFs manufacturing of varieties of materials and structures of optical fibers from 3D printers using a single manufacturing step.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.26.032007
ISSN:	1094-4087
Date made live:	07 Jan 2019 16:46 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/521983

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.26.032007

ISSN:

1094-4087

Date made live:

07 Jan 2019 16:46 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/521983