Cleaving of extremely porous polymer fibers

Abstract

Different cleaving techniques, based on the use of a semiconductor dicing saw, focused-ion-beam milling, and a 193-nm ultraviolet laser, have been exploited to cleave highly porous polymer fibers developed for guiding terahertz radiation. Porous fibers made up of two different polymer materials have been cleaved with the proposed methods and compared with those achieved from the conventional cleaving method. Regardless of the polymer material used for fabricating terahertz porous fibers, using an ultraviolet laser for cleaving and rotating the fiber during the process rapidly provides smooth and reproducible cleaves across the entire fiber cross section.