This paper describes new concepts the author has proposed and demonstrated to realize metal and polymer based sensitive and/or active structural material systems suitable for smart structures. Most of the developments have been done by simple and innovative methods without using sophisticated and expensive sensors and actuators. The following topics are mainly examined: (1) forming optical inte...

This paper investigates the influence of material properties on the performance of an optical fiber wound mandrel composite fiber optic interferometer mandrel by using the ANSYS Cad tool, The acoustic sensitivity of an optical fiber considered analytically, High sensitivity obtained with low young modulus, very thick polymer coatings. The thick coating realized by embedding optical fiber in pol...

In this Letter, we report the fabrication of a highly photosensitive, microstructured polymer optical fiber using benzyl dimethyl ketal as a dopant, as well as the inscription of a fiber Bragg grating in the fiber. A refractive index change in the core of at least 3.2×10(-4) has been achieved, providing a grating with a strong transmission rejection of -23 dB with an inscription time of only 13...

We report the results of systematic measurements of the group velocity dispersion (GVD) in chalcogenide glass (ChG) bulk samples, composite ChG fibers, and robust high-index-contrast nanotapers. The composite ChGpolymer fibers are drawn from an extruded multimaterial preform incorporating a thick built-in polymer jacket that is thermally compatible with the ChG used, and the nanotapers are then...

The research efforts over the course of the last three years have led to the observance of a melt transition in the electroactive polymer polyaniline (PANI) in its base form which may facilitate some degree of melt processability. Structural characterization of films and fibers utilizing unique optical methods developed at Georgia Tech. has resulted in a new understanding of the relationship be...