Low-loss polymer materials incorporating fluorinated compounds have been utilized for the investigation of various functional optical devices useful for optical communication and optical sensor systems. Since reliability issues concerning the polymer device have been resolved, polymeric waveguide devices have been gradually adopted for commercial application systems. The two most successfully c...

An optical micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) structure is provided. The structure includes an elastomer membrane, a plurality of polymer fibers attached to the elastomer membrane, an array of detectors operatively connected to the plurality of polymer fibers at a first end of the plurality of polymer fibers, and a microlens array operatively connected to the plurality of polymer fibers at...

The interaction of the antibacterial polymer-branched poly(ethylene imine) substituted with quaternary ammonium groups, PEO and alkyl chains, PEI25QI5J5A815-with a solid supported lipid bilayer was investigated using surface sensitive optical waveguide spectroscopy. The analysis of the optogeometrical parameters was extended developing a new composite layer model in which the structural and opt...

Although nanowires have attracted much interest in sensing applications, polymer single nanowires for optical sensing, which promises greater versatility and superior performances, remains unexplored. To date, most of these single nanowire devices have been focused on the electrical conductance change when exposed to the species. However, optical detection are highly desired owing to its advant...

Although nanowires have attracted much interest in sensing applications, polymer single nanowires for optical sensing, which promises greater versatility and superior performances, remains unexplored. To date, most of these single nanowire devices have been focused on the electrical conductance change when exposed to the species. However, optical detection are highly desired owing to its advant...

The optical properties of polymers attract considerable attention because of their potential optoelectronic applications, such as in polymer-based light-emitting diodes, light electrochemical cells, and solar cells. To optimize the performance of optoelectronic and photonic devices, some polymers are modified through the introduction of specific end groups, copolymerization, grafting, crosslink...

The fabrication of all polymer optical waveguides, based on a highly fluorescent conjugated polymer (CP) poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-alt-benzothiadiazole) (F8BT) and a mechanically flexible and biodegradable polymer, cellulose acetate (CA), is reported. The replication by hot embossing of patterned surfaces in CA substrates, onto which high quality F8BT films can be easily processed by spin coatin...

We have fabricated microstructured polymer optical fibers that guide light in a hollow core using the photonic bandgap mechanism. The hollow core allows the use of polymer fibers to be extended to wavelength ranges where material absorption typically prohibits their use, with attenuation lower than the material loss observed in the infrared. The fabrication method is similar to other microstruc...

Progress on microstructured polymer optical fibres (MPOFs), a new class of polymer fibres that were developed last year, will be presented, including single-mode MPOF, highly birefringent MPOF, twin-core MPOF, graded-index MPOF, ring-structured MPOF and photonic band gap MPOF, the latter case being where light can be guided in an air core.