This book is a comprehensive contributed volume that aims to describe and explain the design, fabrication, operating characteristics, and specific applications of the most popular and useful types of specialty optical fibers. These "specialty fibers include any kind of optical fiber that has been architecturally manipulated to diverge from a conventional structure. For instance, metal-coated fibers can be utilized for bandwidth improvement, and hollow core fibers offer more controllable dispersion for sensitive medical procedures. Applications for these specialty fibers abound in the biomedical, sensors, and industrial fields, as well as in more traditional communications capacities. This book will act as a specialty fiber "guided tour, hosted by the top names in the discipline. The globally renowned editors, Drs. Mendez and Morse, have extensive experience in research, academia, and industry.*Completely covers biomedical and industrial sensor technology with emphasis on real world applications *Comparative studies of pros and cons of all fiber types with relation to test and measurement, mechanical properties and strength, and reliability*Easy to access essential facts and details at the begining of each chapter

This research- and application-oriented book covers main topical areas of optical fibers. The selection of the chapters is weighted on technological and application-specific topics, very much a reflection of where research is heading to and what researchers are looking for. Chapters are arranged in a user-friendly format essentially self-contained and with extensive cross-references. They are organized in the following sections: - Optical Fiber Communication | Editors: Ming-Jun Li and Chao Lu - Solitons and Nonlinear Waves in Optical Fibers | Editor: Boris A. Malomed - Optical Fiber Fabrication | Editor: Hairul Azhar Bin Abdul Rashid - Active Optical Fibers | Editor: Kyunghwan Oh - Special Optical Fibers | Editors: Perry Shum and Zhilin Xu - Optical Fiber Measurement | Editor: Jianzhong Zhang - Optical Fiber Devices | Editors: John Canning and Tuan Guo - Optical Fiber Device Measurement | Editor: Yanhua Luo - Distributed Optical Fiber Sensing | Editor: Yosuke Mizuno - Optical Fiber Sensors for Industrial Applications | Editor: Tong Sun OBE - Polymer Optical Fiber Sensing | Editor: Ginu Rajan - Photonic Crystal Fiber Sensing | Editor: D. N. Wang - Optical Fiber Microfluidic Sensors | Editor: Yuan Gong

Polymer Optical Fibres: Fibre Types, Materials, Fabrication, Characterization, and Applications explores polymer optical fibers, specifically their materials, fabrication, characterization, measurement techniques, and applications. Optical effects, including light propagation, degrading effects of attenuation, scattering, and dispersion, are explained. Other important parameters like mechanical strength, operating temperatures, and processability are also described. Polymer optical fibers (POF) have a number of advantages over glass fibers, such as low cost, flexibility, low weight, electromagnetic immunity, good bandwidth, simple installation, and mechanical stability. - Provides systematic and comprehensive coverage of materials, fabrication, properties, measurement techniques, and applications of POF - Focuses on industry needs in communication, illumination and sensors, the automotive industry, and medical and biotechnology - Features input from leading experts in POF technology, with experience spanning optoelectronics, polymer, and textiles - Explains optical effects, including light propagation, degrading effects of attenuation, scattering, and dispersion

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue Hollow core optical fibers that was published in Fibers

As an expert in the field with nearly 30 years' experience, Harrington provides complete and up-to-date coverage of infrared fiber technology. Readers are given in-depth facts about the three key types of IR fibers, including how they developed and how they work. What sets this book apart is its comprehensive look at current and future applications, such as IR fiber amplifiers and photonic bandgap fibers, as well as fabrication techniques. Scientists, engineers, and business people will learn about their myriad uses and possible uses in telecommunications, medicine and surgery, and sensors, among others.

This book aims to provide expert guidance to researchers experienced in classical technology, as well as to those new to the field. A variety of perspectives on Photonic Crystal Fibres (PCFs) is presented together with a thorough treatment of the theoretical, physical and mathematical foundations of the optics of PCFs. The range of expertise of the authors is reflected in the depth of coverage, which will benefit those approaching the subject for a variety of reasons and from diverse backgrounds. The study of PCFs enables us to understand how best to optimize their applications in communication or sensing, as devices confining light via new mechanisms (such as photonic bandgap effects). It also assists us in understanding them as physically important structures which require a sophisticated mathematical analysis when considering questions related to the definition of effective refractive index, and the link between large finite systems and infinite periodic systems. This book offers access to essential information on foundation concepts of a dynamic and evolving subject. It is ideal for those who wish to explore further an emerging and important branch of optics and photonics./a

The research in this book represents the culmination of a drive to build the first discharge gas laser unencumbered by the effects of diffraction. This breakthrough has been achieved through careful implementation of a discharge within a hollow-core optical fibre, and by developing measurement and analysis techniques to demonstrate laser action in an experimental optical cavity. Gas lasers were amongst the earliest laser types to be demonstrated and commercialised, but it was recognised that noble gas lasers were limited by the minimum bore diameter of the laser tube, which is set by diffraction. The advent, in 2011, of hollow optical fibres with optical and physical properties suitable for gas discharge lasers opened up the opportunity to break this diffraction limit. Using a mixture of helium and xenon gas, lasing in the mid-infrared range was achieved using a 100μm core flexible hollow optical fibre which, at 1m long, is several hundred times the diffraction-limited Rayleigh length.