A Magnetic Actuator for Fiber-Optic Applications.

Optical fibers coated with various non-magnetized ferromagnetic materials and actuated by external magnetic fields were designed and characterized to demonstrate the feasibility for remote scanning. Cobalt, iron, nickel, and samarium-cobalt powders were used to enable the actuation. Silica optical fibers were coated with a mixture of 70% enamel paint and 30% various ferromagnetic materials. The static and dynamic measurements were preformed under the remote control of an electromagnet. Experiments with different ferromagnetic materials and different suspended fiber lengths of 3.2 cm, 4.2 cm, 5.2 cm, 6.2 cm, and 7.2 cm were performed to compare with theory. The static displacements, dynamic displacements and resonant frequencies of the actuation were measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]