Polymer-Tipped Optical Fibers

Abstract

This article presents a recent approach of polymer microtips integrated at the extremity of optical fibers by photopolymerization. The method is simple and flexible, and the obtained polymer/fiber hybrid system behaves as either a high quality microlens or a probe for near-field microscopy that requires strongly confined fields. Polymer-tipped optical fibers have been shown to be powerful in improving efficiency of coupling with laser diodes and silicon on insulator integrated guides. Finally, it is shown that the hybrid system can be used for high resolution scanning optical microscopy.

The Optical Fiber Tip: An Inherently Light‐Coupled Microscopic Platform for Micro‐ and Nanotechnologies

“…For more information on polymer tips on fibers, the reader is referred to a recent review by Bachelot et al…”

Explosive sensing by using polymer tip on the end of optical fiber

“…This method is very useful for fabricating a polymer micro-tip on the core surface of the optical fiber due to its advantages of a simple setup, low laser intensity and short exposure time. The formulation is made of three basic components: a sensitizer dye, an amine cosynergist, and a multifunctional acrylate monomer and this system is sensitive in the spectral region from 450 nm to 550 nm [20]. The formulation is very stable and can be keep at least 2 years in refrigerator under 2-8 o C. Corning's SMF-28e+ (core diameter 8.2μm, cladding diameter 125μm, NA=0.14) was used as the single mode fiber.…”

“…[20] was used in the fabrication of polymer tip on the end of the fiber. This method is very useful for fabricating a polymer micro-tip on the core surface of the optical fiber due to its advantages of a simple setup, low laser intensity and short exposure time.…”

Long Free-Standing Polymer Waveguides Fabricated Between Single-Mode Optical Fiber Cores

“…The photopolymerizable system used in this study was taken from the investigations in reference [1] for fabricating polymer tips on the end of optical fibers [2], [13], [14]. The system consists of three components; a photo-initiator or sensitizer dye (eosin Y, 0.5 wt.%), a coinitiator amine (Methyldiethanolamine, 8 wt.%) and multifunctional acrylate monomer (Pentaerythritol Triacrylate) which forms the backbone of the photopolymer network.…”

“…The self-guiding process has been referred to as a quasi-solitonic behaviour and in the initial stages of writing the guided beam produces nodes in the written waveguide [7]. However the effect is not long lasting because of the rapid conversion of the irradiated monomer refractive index under the action of photopolymerization [2]. The node formation has been numerically predicted by Hocine et al, using beam propagation method modelling through a medium where the refractive index increases with time [13], and it is observed in the experiments reported here, Fig.…”