Special structured polymer fibers for sensing applications

We report our recent development on polymer optical fibers with the ultimate goal to realize all polymer-based systems for sensing applications. The progress on the development of dopant polymer fibers and a low-cost, compact polymer optical sensing system is reported. Trans-4-stilbenemethanol doped photosensitive single-mode polymer optical fiber was fabricated, and fiber Bragg gratings were successfully photo-written onto the fiber. Single-mode perfluorinated polymer optical fibers is demonstrated, with the transmission loss of <0.2 dB/m in the wavelength range of 1410–1540 nm and <0.5 dB/m for wavelengths up to 1610 nm is achieved. A novel design of a photosensitive microstructured polymer optical fiber is proposed. The new hole-assisted single-mode polymer optical fiber design eliminates the influence of dopant diffusion and to increase the ultra-violet writing efficiency in fiber Bragg grating inscription.