Optical and electrical characterizations of multifunctional silver phosphate glass and polymer-based optical fibers

Abstract

In recent years, the fabrication of multifunctional fibers has expanded for multiple applications that require the transmission of both light and electricity. Fibers featuring these two properties are usually composed either of a single material that supports the different characteristics or of a combination of different materials. In this work, we fabricated (i) novel single-core step-index optical fibers made of electrically conductive AgI-AgPO3-WO3 glass and (ii) novel multimaterial fibers with different designs made of AgI-AgPO3-WO3 glass and optically transparent polycarbonate and poly (methyl methacrylate) polymers. The multifunctional fibers produced show light transmission over a wide range of wavelengths from 500 to 1000 nm for the single-core fibers and from 400 to 1000 nm for the multimaterial fibers. Furthermore, these fibers showed excellent electrical conductivity with values ranging between 10−3 and 10−1 S·cm−1 at room temperature within the range of AC frequencies from 1 Hz to 1 MHz. Multimodal taper-tipped fibre microprobes were then fabricated and were characterized. This advanced design could provide promising tools for in vivo electrophysiological experiments that require light delivery through an optical core in addition to neuronal activity recording.

Evolutive Optical Fibers Combining Oxide and Chalcogenide Glasses with Submicronic Polymer Structures

“…Glass/polymer associations are generally restricted to the combination of high-performance polymers (such as polysulfones) with chalcogenide glasses, mainly due to thermal compatibility issues. [12,13] With few exceptions, [14] oxide-based glasses have either too high glass transitions temperatures or too poor thermal stability to be thermally stretched with organic materials. As the TZN parts represent %97% of the volume of the composite preform considered here, its thermal stretching is performed at the glass drawing temperature (300-325 °C), which is approximately 25 °C higher than that of PES (see Table 1).…”

“…Glass/polymer associations are generally restricted to the combination of high‐performance polymers (such as polysulfones) with chalcogenide glasses, mainly due to thermal compatibility issues. [ 12,13 ] With few exceptions, [ 14 ] oxide‐based glasses have either too high glass transitions temperatures or too poor thermal stability to be thermally stretched with organic materials.…”

“…Our approach appears original, especially when only few works in the literature report on the association of thermoplastics with nonchalcogenide glasses for fiber development. [ 14 ] It is found that large surface area polymer films with micrometric thickness can be successfully embedded within larger oxide‐glass structures through the thermal drawing process and without compromising the organic material physicochemical integrity. This enables the production of elongated geometries in which specific domains are delimited by a polymer inclusion, which greatly simplifies postdrawing functionalization procedures.…”

Optical fiber sensors based on sol–gel materials: design, fabrication and application in concrete structures

“…The key strategy for the development of multi-functional OFS with high efficiency, stability, and sensitivity and lower LODs is the progress in integrating functional materials displaying distinct properties combined with suitable transduction mechanisms. 367,368 This will be a milestone on the development of multi-functional OFS and a new technological revolution that will lead to the development of a new generation of devices. From this perspective, these devices are the basis for the development of a world technology that is completely incorporated into a single optical fiber.…”

“…In the last few decades, several research groups have focused their efforts on the design and the development of multiplexed integrated devices starting with the assessment of the technological steps for their fabrication. [368][369][370] Considering all these advantages, multiplexed chemical sensing and fusion of sensors for physical and chemical analysis allowing obtaining accurate and insightful information are the main objectives of OFS developers.…”