Origin of high propagation loss in electrospun polymer nanofibers

We evaluate optical propagation loss (α) in electrospun poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) nanofibers with different wavelength (λ) and determine the origin of the loss. Aligned single electrospun nanofibers composed of PMMA and a small amount of an organic dye are fabricated with an average diameter of approximately 640 nm. After cladding seven fiber samples, α is evaluated to be 26–62 dB cm−1 at wavelengths 590−680 nm. Moreover, α depended linearly on λ−4, and from the fitting functions we determined the ratio of the following two possible losses for α: loss at the interface between the fiber-core and cladding because of non-uniformity within the fibers (αun), and loss because of excess light scattering in the fibers resulting from density inhomogeneity of PMMA (αsc). For the fibers, αun is evaluated to be 6.9–22 dB cm−1, which represents 19%–50% of α at λ of 650 nm with α ∼ αun + αsc. Thus, we conclude that the high α in these fibers originates from both their poor uniformity and density inhomogeneity. Furthermore, a quantitative investigation of uniformity in the individual fibers revealed that the root mean square roughness ranges from 5.5 nm to 9.0 nm and the theoretical value of αun was ∼1 dB cm−1 showing reasonable agreement with experimental data. These findings hold for low-loss polymer nanofiber waveguides, which have high aspect ratio and fine patterning even in three dimensions.