Graded-index plastic optical fiber prepared by the coextrusion process

A graded-index plastic optical fiber (GI POE) has been proposed as the transmission medium to realize high-speed information transmission. We have succeeded in fabricating a GI POF by the dopant diffusion coextrusion process, a method that allows continuous fabrication of GI POE Although it has been indicated that the refractive index distribution of GI POE fabricated by this process is formed by Fick diffusion with the diffusion coefficient dependent on dopant concentration, the method to control it remains unknown. The purposes of this study are to establish the technology of stable fabricating of GI POE by the coextrusion process and to analyze the bandwidth. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.