Temperature Dependence of Mode Coupling in low-NA Plastic Optical Fibers

Using the power flow equation and experimental measurements, investigated in this paper is the state of mode coupling in low NA (0.3) step-index (SI) plastic optical fibers under varied temperature. Numerical results obtained using the power flow equation agree well with experimental measurements. It is found that elevated temperatures of low-NA SI plastic optical fibers strengthened mode coupling. These properties remained after a year, with the fiber being subjected to environmental temperature variations of >35 K. These thermally induced changes of the fiber properties are attributed to the increased intrinsic perturbation effects in the PMMA material at higher temperatures. This results in an increase of the measured bandwidth with increasing fiber temperature as well as earlier the bandwidth switch from the functional dependence of 1/z to 1/z^1/2 (slower bandwidth decrease).