A preform technique is used to prepare a step-index (SI) polymer optical fiber (POF) doped with Eu(DBM)3Phen. The gain (5.7 dB) at 613 nm of the doped SI POF with Eu3+ content of 4000 in 10(6) wt., 0.4-mm core diameter, and 30-cm fiber length is observed at ambient temperature by end pumping with a YAG at 355 nm. The input signal light is approximately 0.2 W. The results show the possibility of signal gain in a rare-earth-doped POF amplifier and the potential of a polymer doped with rare-earth ions as an active optical device.

Polymer optical fiber (POF) with a highly photosensitive poly(methyl methacrylate-co-methyl vinyl ketoneco-benzyl methacrylate) core is fabricated. Gratings can be fabricated in the core of a POF with a low-cost mercury lamp. The part of the emission spectrum of the mercury lamp in which the cladding material exhibits photosensitivity is effectively filtered by a 1.5-mm-thick Pyrex glass to ensure that a long-period grating is formed only in the core of a POF. A long-period grating with a 3-dB resonant peak at 1568 nm is fabricated with 0.3 mW/ cm 2 of UV irradiation over a period of 200 s.

A step-index polymer optical fiber (SI POF) containing Rhodamine B in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) has been fabricated by a preform technique. Fluorescence of different fiber lengths were observed and discussed. A high gain (23 dB) for a SI POF with 60-cm length, 400-m diameter was obtained. The Rhodamine B content of the doped SI POF is 5 ppm-wt. The signal wavelength providing the highest gain for a 60 cm SI POF is around 630 nm, and the optimum fiber length is about 60 cm at 10 kW launched pump power.

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