Plastic optical fiber

Plastic optical fiber (POF) (or Polymer optical fibre) is an optical fiber that is made out of polymer. Similar to glass optical fiber, POF transmits light (for illumination or data) through the core of the fiber. Its chief advantage over the glass product, other aspect being equal, is its robustness under bending and stretching. Optical fiber used in telecommunications is governed by European Standards EN 60793-2-40-2011.

Traditionally, PMMA (acrylic) comprises the core (96% of the cross section in a fiber 1mm in diameter), and fluorinated polymers are the cladding material. Since the late 1990s much higher performance graded-index (GI-POF) fiber based on amorphous fluoropolymer (poly(perfluoro-butenylvinyl ether), CYTOP) has begun to appear in the marketplace. Polymer optical fibers are typically manufactured using extrusion, in contrast to the method of pulling used for glass fibers.

POF has been called the "consumer" optical fiber because the fiber and associated optical links, connectors, and installation are all inexpensive. Due to the attenuation and distortion characteristics of PMMA fibers, they are commonly used for low-speed, short-distance (up to 100 meters) applications in digital home appliances, home networks, industrial networks (PROFIBUS, PROFINET), and car networks (MOST). The perfluorinated polymer fibers are commonly used for much higher-speed applications such as data center wiring and building LAN wiring. Polymer optical fibers can be used for remote sensing and multiplexing due to their low cost and high resistance.

In relation to the future requirements of high-speed home networking, there has been an increasing interest in POF as a possible option for next-generation Gigabit/s links inside the home. To this end, several European Research projects are active, such as POF-ALL [1] and POF-PLUS [2]. Several standardization bodies at country, European, and worldwide levels are currently developing Gigabit communication standards for POF aimed towards home networking applications. It is expected the release at the beginning of 2012. [3]

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