Poling and Doping of Microstructured Polymer Optical Fibres

Unlike conventional Polymer Optical Fibre (POF), single -mode Microstructured Polymer Optical Fibre (MPOF) can easily be fabricated, as required for many nonlinear applications. It was demonstrated that tungsten electrodes for poling and measuring the electro -optic coefficient could be incorporated in the PMMA fibre during the draw process. Lengths of up to 70m of this fibre were produced. For the first time, MPOF was thermally poled, and the electro -optic coefficient of undoped PMMA was measured to be ~0.04pm/V. Disperse Red 1 was incorporated in the fibre via the microstructure, with a view to increasing the electro-optic response. This dopant diffused completely and uniformly through the core of the fibre, opening the way to applications that require functional fibre materials.