In broad terms, the purpose of the Phase I research is to determine if it is feasible to make an electrooptic device in a polymer optical fiber with reliable core material and high-quality electrodes. Past results demonstrate that all the pieces are in place to build such a device. The objective of this project is to determine the feasibiity of the following. (1) Incorporate a more reliable side-chain polymer into the core of the fiber preform. (2) Incorporate into a fiber preform electrodes whose melting temperature and/or plastic range better matches the glass transition temperature of the polymer. (3) Demonstrate that an electrooptic polymer fiber can be pulled from this fiber. A successful demonstration of these three technical objectives would provide a robust electrooptic fiber that could be used as an inline component to make a family of devices such as molulators and multiplexers. We have already demonstrated that electrodes can be incorporated around a light-guilding single-mode core and that the fiber can be poled with an electric field during the fiber drawing process. Anticipated Benefits and
Potential Commercial Applications: These devices would find applications in phased array radar systems and high-speed telecom systems to name just a few. Sentel's fiber-optic switches have multiple broad market applications. These include bypass and access switches for single-mode LANs, backup and restoration switches for CATV head-ends, network restoration switches for subscriber-side WANs, optical crossconnects for long-haul telecommunication POP (points of presence) centers, as well as for phased-array antennas. Additional applications are foreseen for niche markets, including instrumentation, network test, component test and evaluation, and potentiallly computer interconnect network configuration.
