Graded‐index plastic optical fiber with high mechanical properties enabling easy network installations. II

It was shown how high mechanical strength should be provided in the high numerical aperture (NA) graded‐index plastic optical fiber (GI POF). In this newly developed GI POF, a copolymer of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and 2,2,2‐trifluoroethyl methacrylate (3FMA) was used to increase the NA. The GI POF we proposed previously was composed of a PMMA homopolymer cladding and a doped PMMA core. It was previously shown that substituting the copolymer P(MMA–3FMA) for the PMMA as the cladding material made little change in the fiber's light‐transmission characteristics. This study focused on mechanical flexibility, which is one of the most important advantages of the POF. It was found that the P(MMA–3FMA)‐clad GI POF had almost the same or superior mechanical strength in addition to the excellent light‐propagation characteristics. It was also found that such excellent mechanical properties were achieved using a small dopant concentration and optimum heat‐drawing conditions.