Studies on the light-focusing plastic rod. 10: A light-focusing plastic fiber of methyl methacrylate-vinyl benzoate copolymer.

A light-focusing plastic fiber (LFF) with a parabolic refractive-index distribution was obtained by the continuous heat drawing of the preform prepared from the photocopolymerization of methyl methacrylate with vinyl benzoate. The relation between the preparation conditions and the optical and mechanical properties of the LFFs was clarified. The index profile of the LFFs is found to be scarcely affected by the continuous heat drawing process compared with that of original preforms. The resulting LFF would be suitable for short-distance communication systems due to its attenuation being higher than 10(3) dB/km.