Polymer Microtips at Different Types of Optical Fibers as Functional Elements for Sensing Applications

Author

Pura, Paulina ; Szymanski, Michal ; Dudek, Michal ; Jaroszewicz, Leszek R. ; Marc, Pawel ; Kujawinska, Malgorzata

Author_Institution

Inst. of Appl. Phys., Mil. Univ. of Technol., Warsaw, Poland

Volume

33

Issue

12

fYear

2015

fDate

June15, 15 2015

Firstpage

2398

Lastpage

2404

Abstract

In this paper, we report on a simple process of fabrication of micrometer-sized polymer elements (microtips) at the extremities of different type optical fibers, including: standard single mode (SMF-28E+, SM-450), photonic crystal (LMA-10), and polymer (GIPOF-62) ones. The method of microtips manufacturing is based on the phenomenon of photopolymerization which is successfully used for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, to manufacture microtips at photonic crystal and polymer fibers. We discuss the influence of the initial process parameters on the final microtip characteristics (i.e., length, diameter, and profile). The potential applications of such polymer microtips are near-field scanning optical microscopy, coupling light sources with fibers, and sensing.

Keywords

fibre optic sensors; light sources; near-field scanning optical microscopy; optical fibre fabrication; optical polymers; photonic crystals; polymer fibres; polymerisation; coupling light sources; final microtip characteristics; functional elements; micrometer-sized polymer element fabrication; microtip manufacturing; near-field scanning optical microscopy; optical fibers; photonic crystal; photopolymerization; polymer fibers; polymer microtips; sensing applications; standard single mode; Optical device fabrication; Optical fiber sensors; Optical fibers; Polymers; Shape; Microtip; microtip; optical fiber sensors; photonic crystal fiber; photopolymerization; polymer optical fiber; scanning near-field optical microscopy; technology;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JLT.2014.2385961

Filename

6997994