Research
Why Polymer Optical Fiber?
Polymer optical fiber (POF) is a potential solution for
local area networks (LAN), residential networks, and automotive applications due to
low connection costs. The cost for each POF connection is approximately
1/100th the cost of a glass fiber connection. This is because polymers
are more flexible than glass and so POF can be manufactured with larger
diameters. Also, polymers allow for a wide range of refractive indices,
which means that POF can be designed with a larger numerical aperture (NA)
compared to the NA of glass fiber. Larger diameter fiber and NA translate
into less stringent requirements for alignment and therefore lower cost
for each connection. POF has been demonstrated to achieve high-bandwidth
(>2 GHz.km), but it attenuates the light signal more strongly than glass
fiber does. POF is therefore most applicable for short-range networks where
many connections make it cost advantageous.
Other Fiber Applications
The University of Washington fiber manufacturing facility has been used to explore other specialized fiber applications including bio-medical fiber, composite carbon nanotube fiber, and others featured here.