Electronic and magnetic fibers

•We demonstrate the basic feasibility for selected electronic and magnetic core fibers.•The fibers had core diameters of 65–300 µm and overall diameters of 390–1000 µm.•We fabricated fused silica clad fibers with copper and silver cores.•We fabricated silica clad fibers with Terfenol-D, Metglas™, and barium titanate cores.•An on-line magnetic tuning technique was proposed for magnetic core fibers

Fibers with electronic, magnetic and piezoelectric core materials were fabricated via a modified melt-draw technique. Materials selected for this study were copper, silver, barium titanate, Metglas® and Terfenol-D with a fused silica cladding. Basic material compatibility and process feasibility were confirmed via compositional and microstructural analysis. Demonstration of fibers with multi-functional materials and the potential integration with current state of the art technologies represents the first steps in providing the building blocks for all-fiber optoelectronics.

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