Post-Fabrication Cladding Doping of Commercial PMMA Polymer Optical Fiber.

Possibility of post-fabrication doping of commercial PMMA fibers using well-known solution doping technique is presented. The cladding of 1 mm PMMA fiber is doped with Rhodamine B with the help of methanol-mediated diffusion of the dye molecules into the fiber material. Doping of the fiber core was not possible even at extended doping times. The proposed method represents rather simple and cheap way for preparing custom cladding-doped POFs with high flexibility of dopant choice and fiber length. Produced cladding-doped fibers have potential for various sensing or lighting applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]