Propagation loss, degradation and protective coating of long drawn microfibers

Propagation losses, transmission spectra and optical degradation attributed to surface scattering, crack propagation and water absorption were characterized for long microfibers fabricated by using a drawing tower. The propagation losses and optical degradation at 1550 nm wavelength were found increasing as the diameters decreased for the microfibers. A coating setup was established where polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was used as coating material and a CO2 laser as curing source to form a cylindrical film layer along the surface of microfiber. It was confirmed that no optical degradation was observed for the long drawn microfibers with protective coating over a long period of 18 h.

Research highlights
► Propagation losses and optical degradation were characterized for long microfibers.
► A coating setup was established to form a film layer along the surface of microfiber.
► No degradation was observed for long drawn microfibers with protective coating.