Eliminates high costs associated with current empirical methods.
About
About this Technology MOFs are a relatively new class of fibres that enable new areas of application. This they achieve because they provide the transmission of multiple channels of light rather than a single ray using conventional fibres. Scientists at Imperial College have developed a method for predicting the set-up parameters for manufacturing MOFs and eliminate the high costs associated with the current empirical methods of identifying them. Conventional fibres guide light by a mechanism of total internal reflection along a core-cladding combination. Whereas MOFs rely on a micro-structured geometry of channels engrained in a single material (e.g. glass or silica). While the rich array of possible applications (medicine, bio-sensing, communications, etc.) dictate which microstructural geometry is needed in the fibre, it remains a challenge to actually manufacture such a fibres.