| Abstract: | Loss factors of PMMA and PS core plastic optical fibers (POFs) were analyzed, and it was revealed that the vibrational absorption owing to CH vibration plays the most significant role in reducing the near-IR region attenuation loss. Conversion of the hydrogen of the CH bond in the core polymer to deuterium gives rise to a large reduction of the attenuation loss not only in the visible wavelength region but also in the near-IR region. The deuteration of styrene is not so effective as that of methyl methacrylate because of PS core POFs higher loss owing to imperfections in the wave guide structure and Rayleigh scattering. Using a perdeuterated PMMA as a POF core, a loss of 20 dB/km was attained in the 650–680 nm wavelength region. The loss limits of these deuterated polymer core POFs were also estimated. |
