Influence of water absorption on plastic optical fibers

The influence of absorbed water on the attenuation loss of plastic optical fibers (POFs) is discussed. By lowering the POF loss, absorbed water becomes the significant constituent for the loss of POFs. The degree of loss increment due to water absorption depends on the relative humidity of the environment where the POFs exist. A low-loss deuterated PMMA core POF is thought to be suitable for use as a visible-wavelength-region optical signal transmission medium. A deuterated polystyrene core POF can be used as a near-IR transmission medium.