Researchers from Switzerland have designed an optical fibre that can withstand high levels of pressure when transmitting data and signals.

The team from Empa institute have produced the fibre, which consists of a core filled with liquid glycerol contained by a sheath made from a fluoropolymer, as an alternative option to glass and plastic fibres according to an article on empa.ch.

Glass fibres are seen as being very susceptible to stresses such as stretching, with plastic fibres also having this vulnerability. 

In experiments, the team found that the fiber had the ability to be stretched by an additional 10% in length, before eventually returning to its normal length once the stretching had eased. This is reportedly something that hasn’t been achieved with other solid-cable optical fibers produced up to now.

“In terms of optically conductive polymer fibres, we’ve tried all kinds of things, but even with the best solid fibre cores, we can never achieve such elasticity as with our liquid-filled fibre,” said Dr Rudolf Hufenus, a lead researcher at Empa institute.

“We expect that our liquid-filled fibres can be used not only for signal transmission and sensing, but also for force transmission in micromotors and microhydraulics.”