• Ottevaere, Heidi
• Merken, P.
• Acheroy, S.
• Thienpont, Hugo
• Geernaert, Thomas
• Berghmans, Francis

Abstract

We determine the radial profile of the photoelastic constant C(r) in two single mode and one multimode polymer optical fibers (POFs), all fabricated from polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA). To determine C(r) we first determine the retardance of the laterally illuminated fiber submitted to a known tensile stress uniformly distributed over the fiber cross-section. Then we determine the inverse Abel transform of the measured retardance to finally obtain C(r). We compare two algorithms based on the Fourier theory to perform the inverse transform. We obtain disparate distributions of C(r) in the three fibers. The mean value of C(r) varies from-7.6x10(-14) to 5.4x10(-12)Pa(-1). This indicates that, in contrast to glass fibers, the radial profile of the photoelastic constant can considerable vary depending on the type and treatment of POFs, even when made from similar materials, and hence the photoelastic constant should be measured for each type of POF.

Topics

• polymer
• theory
• glass
• glass