| 摘要 |
<p>The subject invention pertains to a method and apparatus for manufacturing a plurality of polymer optical fibers. A polymer material is prepared and extruded to produce a plurality of polymer optical fibers in a continuous manner. One or more polymer optical fiber cables, each incorporating one or more of the plurality of polymer optical fibers, can be continuously produced from the plurality of polymer optical fibers. Examples of such polymer optical fiber cables include, but are not limited to, Simplex cable, Duplex cable, and other configurations of multi-polymer optical fiber cable. The polymer optical fiber can also be jacketed to produce a ribbon of polymer optical fibers and, optionally, two or more of the polymer optical fiber ribbons can be jacketed together to produce a stack of polymer optical fiber ribbons. The polymer optical fibers can have a variety of index refraction profiles, such as step index or GRIN (graded-index) profiles. These index profiles can be achieved by the combination of polymers used to produce the fibers, due to the different refractive indices of the polymers and/or by addition of one or more additives that modify the index of refraction of the polymers. Such additives can diffuse when heat and/or energy is provided to the polymer in order to achieve the desired index profile.</p> |
