Abstract
Recent progress of high-speed plastic optical fiber network technology was reviewed. The Gigabit POF network was experimentally demonstrated, which enabled a real-time interactive communication by high resolution motion picture. We also demonstrated a telemedicine by utilizing the real-time interactive communication system over the gigabit POF networks. In order to upgrade the bit rate of POF network to higher than 10 Gbps, a perfluorinated (PF) polymer with low material dispersion is a promising candidate. The bandwidth potential of the PF polymer based GI POF is estimated to be higher than that of the silica based multimode fiber. It is also indicated that the developments of high-speed laser or VCSEL for the POF network and of its beam management technologies are strongly required for realizing over gigabit POF networks.
