Nanocomposite Coatings for Optical Fibers

Fiber-optic technology is finding increasing importance in a wide range of applications within the navy, such as in structural health monitoring of warships, high-resolution image transmission, guided weapons, gyros and optical motherboards for computers.Optical fibers are typically enclosed in a hermetic layer over the cladding that protects the core and the cladding from mechanical, thermal and chemical damage. Various polymeric materials are applied on the surface of the glass fiber to protect it fromthe harsh environment. Polymers, however, absorb moisture; as a result, long-term mechanical reliability of polymer-coated fibers might be not as high as necessary. An alternative effective coating material that possesses the merits of organic polymers andcarbon/metallic hermetic coating, without the drawbacks of these materials, is proposed in this phase I proposal. Apart from use in the navy for fabrication of high-security, high-performance communication networks, the optical fibers developed will alsofind use in a plethora of civilian applications that involve optical communication.