Piezoelectric Multimaterial Fibers

Here we report on the design, fabrication, and characterization of fiber containing an internal crystalline non-centrosymmetric phase enabling piezoelectric functionality over extended fiber lengths [1]. A ferroelectric polymer layer of 30 μm thickness is spatially confined and electrically contacted by internal viscous electrodes and encapsulated in an insulating polymer cladding hundreds of microns in diameter. The structure is thermally drawn in its entirety from a macroscopic preform, yielding tens of meters of piezoelectric fiber. Electric fields in excess of 50V/μm are applied through the internal electrodes to the ferroelectric layer leading to effective poling of the structure. To unequivocally establish that the internal copolymer layer is macroscopically poled we adopt a two-step approach. First, we show that the internal piezoelectric modulation indeed translates to a motion of the fiber’s surface using a heterodyne optical vibrometer at kHz frequencies. Second, we proceed to an acoustic wave measurement at MHz frequencies: a water-immersion ultrasonic transducer is coupled to a fiber sample across a water tank, and frequency-domain characterizations are carried out using the fiber successively as an acoustic sensor and actuator. These measurements establish the broadband piezoelectric response and acoustic transduction capability of the fiber. The potential to modulate sophisticated optical devices is illustrated by constructing a single-fiber electricallydriven device containing a high-quality-factor Fabry-Perot optical resonator and a piezoelectric transducer.