Abstract-Singlemoded THz guidance in bendable TOPAS suspended-core fiber directly drawn from a 3D printer

Wanvisa Talataisong, Jon Gorecki, Rand Ismaeel, Martynas Beresna, Daniel Schwendemann, Vasilis Apostolopoulos, Gilberto Brambilla

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-68079-y

Terahertz (THz) technology has witnessed a significant growth in a wide range of applications, including spectroscopy, bio-medical sensing, astronomical and space detection, THz tomography, and non-invasive imaging. Current THz microstructured fibers show a complex fabrication process and their flexibility is severely restricted by the relatively large cross-sections, which turn them into rigid rods. In this paper, we demonstrate a simple and novel method to fabricate low-cost THz microstructured fibers. A cyclic olefin copolymer (TOPAS) suspended-core fiber guiding in the THz is extruded from a structured 3D printer nozzle and directly drawn in a single step process. Spectrograms of broadband THz pulses propagated through different lengths of fiber clearly indicate guidance in the fiber core. Cladding mode stripping allow for the identification of the single mode in the spectrograms and the determination of the average propagation loss (~ 0.11 dB/mm) in the 0.5–1 THz frequency range. This work points towards single step manufacturing of microstructured fibers using a wide variety of materials and geometries using a 3D printer platform.

Abstract-Novel method for manufacturing optical fiber: extrusion and drawing of microstructured polymer optical fibers from a 3D printer

Wanvisa Talataisong, Rand Ismaeel, Seyed Reza Sandoghchi, Teerapat Rutirawut, Glenn Topley, Martynas Beresna, and Gilberto Brambilla

Fig. 1 (a) Structured nozzle design including a 3D model, a side- and a bottom-view cross-sections, from left to right respectively. Green arrows and green colours represent the direction of filament moving and cross-section of extruded polymer from structured nozzle. (b-d) Micromachined structured nozzle: (b) body, (c) body + cover, (d) after MPOF drawing.

https://www.osapublishing.org/oe/abstract.cfm?uri=oe-26-24-32007

Microstructured polymer optical fibers (MPOFs) have long attracted great interest due to their wide range of applications in biological and chemical sensing. In this manuscript, we demonstrate a novel technique of manufacturing MPOF via a single-step procedure by means of a 3D printer. A suspended-core polymer optical fiber has been extruded and directly drawn from a micro-structured 3D printer nozzle by using an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) polymer. Near-field imaging at the fiber facet performed at the wavelength λ~1550 nm clearly indicates guidance in the fiber core. The propagation loss has been experimentally demonstrated to be better than α = 1.1 dB/cm. This work points toward direct MPOFs manufacturing of varieties of materials and structures of optical fibers from 3D printers using a single manufacturing step.

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