Applications of Polymer Optical Fibers

The polymer optical fiber has been employed for many years now. In lighting technology it represents a widely used and recognized medium. The share of POF in sensor technology and data communications on the other hand is rather small. Up until now POF was predominately used in niche areas. At present a dramatic change is taking place especially in data communications. The digitalization of diverse entertainment media (music, language, video, pictures), a process which is practically completed, and the steadily growing amount of terminal equipment has led to a massive demand for reasonably priced, fast and reliable data connections in all areas of private and public life. In this chapter some possible uses for POF, as well as areas in which it is already being utilized, will be discussed. Those areas of use which lie outside the field of data communications and beyond the scope of this book will only be treated briefly. For these areas we refer to existing publications ([Wei98], [FOP97]).