Fabrication and analysis of side‐emitting poly(methyl methacrylate) fibres with non‐circular cross‐sections

Abstract

We present a novel type of side-light-emitting fibre with trilobal cross-section. The fibre is especially designed for indirect illumination applications and the special shape of the filament cross-section permits the formation of a distinct asymmetric radiation pattern. These fibres can focus the radially emitted light on particular locations, e.g. in order to cure resins or polymers at well-defined positions, or may be used as indirect illumination sources in car interiors. The polymer material is commercial optical-grade poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) that is compounded with different concentrations of a TiO 2 -nanofiller-modified PMMA.