Segmented, Side-Emitting Hydrogel Optical Fibers for Multimaterial Extrusion Printing.

ABSTRACT: Side-emitting optical fibers allow light to be deliberately outcoupled along the fiber. Introducing a customized side-emission profile requires modulation of the guiding and emitting properties along the fiber length, which is a particular challenge in continuous processing of soft waveguides. In this work, it is demonstrated that multimaterial extrusion printing can generate hydrogel optical fibers with tailored segments for light-side emission. The fibers are based on diacrylated Pluronic F-127 (PluDA). 1 mm diameter fibers are printed with segments of different optical properties by switching between a PluDA waveguiding ink and a PluDA scattering ink containing nanoparticles. The method allows the fabrication of fibers with segment lengths below 500 microns in a continuous process. The

SUBMITTER: Kafrashian Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11775871 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature