October 9, 2009 -- Kiriama Pty Ltd. was launched as a plastic optical fiber manufacturer at last month's 18th International Conference on Plastic Optical Fibers, held in Sydney, Australia. Kiriama produces custom-designed polymer optical fibers as well as offering consulting and characterization services. The firm specializes in microstructured polymer optical fibers.
"Microstructured polymer optical fibers use patterns of tiny holes that run the full length along the fiber to produce optical effects that are difficult, or in some cases impossible, to produce any other way," explained Alex Argyrus, the company's chief executive officer. "This unique type of fiber was developed at the University of Sydney and we have exclusive access to commercialize the technology. I am pleased to announce that we have already made sales in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region and are currently building our order book."
While launching the company, Professor Ben Eggleton, director of Sydney University's Institute of Photonics and Optical Sciences, said, "Kiriama has a great technology, great people, extensive experience in making different fiber designs, and unrivaled facilities for modeling and designing fibers for specific applications. It's a pleasure to launch them onto the world stage, and I wish them every success."
According to the company, the research underpinning its technology has been recognized with awards including the Eureka Prize, the Australian Science Prize, and the CommsWorld Prize for ICT Innovation.
Speaking about the new technology's advantages, Argyros said, "One of the most important in the short term is mechanical strain sensing. Optical fibers have long been used for sensing of mechanical strain over extended lengths, such as in bridges o buildings. However, because most optical fibers are made of glass, they cannot withstand large strains. By contrast, polymer fibers can withstand strains of 30 to 40 percent. Because we are able to make polymer fibers that are singlemode in the visible, something that is hard to do using conventional polymer fibers, we are able to use the best interrogation techniques for our sensors, like gratings and interferometry."
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