Akira Ohmori

Plastic optical fibers

Characteristics of plastic optical fibers (POF)s, i.e., handling ease because of their good ductility, splicing ease to each other and to light sources because of their large fiber diameter and high numerical aperture, processability, and high flexibility notwithstanding their larger fiber diameters, have attracted much attention. They are expected to be applied as a short distance optical signal transmission medium for certain kinds of computer-toterminal data links such as in office automation systems. Polymers for POF application should be as transparent as possible and therefore they should be low in scattering loss, and their refractive index should be controllable to fabricated fiber structures. In this paper, POF optical transparency, light scattering, optical bandwidth, and refractive index control are discussed in detail along with polymer loss limit

Structual Studies of Poly(Fluoroalkyl Methacrylate)s and Poly(Fluoroalkyl α-Fluoroacrylate)s

Poly(fluoroalkyl methacrylate)s and poly(fluoroalkyl α-fluoroacrylate)s with various fluoroalkyl groups were prepared. These polymers were characterized for tacticity by proton and fluorine nuclear magnetic resonance (1H and 19F NMR) and investigated by Electron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis (ESCA) to assign each signal. We found that tacticity of poly(fluoroalkyl α-fluoroacrylate)s were independent of the fluoroalkyl structure. The relationship between the structure of polymers and ESCA signals for all polymers was clarified. Also, we found an orientation effect of fluoroalkyl groups on the surface of the polymer films through the analysis of F1s ESCA signals.