ABSTRACT
Polymer-based fibers are becoming a frontier technology and because of the richness of phenomena observed make them a perpetually hot area of research. It all begun with the history of how polymer fibers originated, evolved, and the advantage of theory of wave propagation of light in fibers. When it comes to use of polymers for a host of applications the basic physics and materials science-related issues have to be understood such as how to make polymer fibers, how do they work, and how can they be used to advantage for practical applications. In order to develop new polymers for making fibers, there are usually challenges in terms of materials processing aspects. The physical properties of these numerous types of fibers differ significantly in terms of the materials used, and the possible waveguide geometries, decide the basis for the difference in their applications. Some-time rudimentary methods are preferred over even those trying to produce a compendium of all the innovative materials and techniques which employ drawing techniques, governed by the viscoelastic properties of polymers. Further, synthesis of fibers should be followed by characterization since they will always play an important role in ensuring whether the fibers made can be used for specific applications or basic research. In several devices, we can make use of different types of fibers like electrooptic fibers and fiber lasers. There is a range of smart materials developed as an application of polymer optical fibers. In particular, a large part of this chapter reviews applications of polymer fiber optics in various forms and further discusses the possible science-fiction-like applications by virtue of various phenomena involved in it.
