Custom POF | Paradigm Optics, Incorporated

Welcome. Here you can learn about the various ways that polymer optical fiber can be tailored to fit your requirements. Paradigm Optics can tailor fiber in five broad ways:

Altering core and cladding diameters,
Altering the shape (cross section) of a fiber;
Changing the number of cores and their placement in a fiber;
Using various materials to change the mechanical and optical characteristics of a fiber; and
Adding dopants to a fiber to change or add characteristics.

Altering core and cladding diameters,

Commodity pof as supplied by many manufacturers is made through an coating and extrusion process. The typically commodity pof is made with a core of PMMA with a thin FP cladding. Paradigm Optics fabricates pof through a preform draw process (similar to how glass optical fiber is made). This gives us the ability to manufacture essentially any core and cladding diameters.

Altering the shape (cross section) of a fiber

Paradigm Optics can manufacture polymer fiber having many different shapes, core types, and cross-sections. 'D'-shaped, hex-shaped, rectangular cross-sections, and optical spacers are all possible. The core shape can be tailored to various shapes as well.

D-fiber. Useful for myriad applications is a fiber having a 'D' cross section. Below are some examples of various 'D' fibers Paradigm Optics can fabricate. We can tailor the placement of the core to micron accuracies.

	BURIED D-FIBER. The core is situated a specified distance beneath the flat surface of the fiber.
	RAISED D-FIBER. The fiber's core sits raised to your specification above the flat side of the fiber.
	EXPOSED D-FIBER. The flat surface of the fiber cuts across the core, exposing it.

Changing the number of cores and their placement in a fiber

Paradigm Optics' unique polymer fiber processing technology uses a drawing process, instead of extrusion. This allows for tight tolerances in core placement, core and cladding diameters, and core-to-cladding ratios. Multicore POF is just one application of this process. Nearly any configuration can be made and drawn to an optical fiber to your specification.

Using various materials to change the mechanical and optical characteristics of a fiber

Paradigm Optics is always seeking and investigating new polymer materials as candidates for POF. A listing of our material capabilities is available here.

Core/cladding material combinations may be chosen to improve transmission, alter the numerical aperture (NA) of a fiber, provide chemical resistance and environmental stability, among other performance measures. Please review our material capabilities or contact us to learn more about which materials for POF may be best suited to your application.

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Adding dopants to a fiber to change or add characteristics

Do you have a dye or organic complex that you believe may be useful as a dopant in polymer optical fiber (POF)? Or do you have an idea that you believe may benefit from the use of polymer fiber?

Paradigm Optics has the experience to investigate the potential of many different types of materials for use with POF. Past examples include laser dyes, carbon nanotubes, and copolymer dopants. Many organic dopants can be added to acrylic and polystyrene in concentrations much greater than can be achieved with their ion/silica counterparts.