Optical fiber optics are the fascinating alternative to systems based on electrical conductors: they enable data acquisition, data transmission and direct illumination without electrical conductors, i.e. with complete insensitivity to electromagnetic influences (EMC). Unfortunately, optical fibers made of glass or quartz glass have a very small core cross-section, making the associated system technology complex and expensive. The polymer optical fiber (POF) is also an optical waveguide with many typical advantages, but avoids the high system costs due to a significantly larger core diameter. POF and the systems that can be implemented with it are DieMount's specialty.

Optical polymer fibers: Properties and applications

Polymer optical fiber (POF) is an optical waveguide like glass fiber, but unlike glass fiber it is made of transparent plastic, which is not brittle and can therefore be assembled using simpler processing methods. Due to a significantly larger core diameter of 0.25 mm to more than 6 mm, the requirements for coupling tolerance are much lower compared to glass fiber.

 

The main areas of application for POF system technology are

  • Data transmission over short distances (typically up to 100m)
  • Fiber optic sensors for measuring physical quantities (strain, acceleration, force, color, ...) in EMC-critical environments,
  • Illumination of textiles and design objects using integrated, special side-light polymer fibers (SL-POF)Am Neuenhof 23

    52074 Aachen