Measurement of UV Emission from a Diffusing Optical Fiber Using Radiochromic Film

Abstract

Analysis of the emission pattern from optical diffuser tips is vital to their usage in biomedical applications, especially as they find growing functionality beyond established phototherapy techniques. The use of ultraviolet radiation with diffuser tips increases the need to accurately characterize these devices, both for effective application and to avoid potentially dangerous exposure conditions. This study presents a new method to capture the diffusion pattern at a high resolution through the use of radiochromic film. The film is positioned in a cylinder around the diffuser, light is emitted from the diffuser onto the film and the film expresses a color change relative to the exposure amount. The resulting emission map shows the distribution of power from the diffuser in all direction. This method, which is both quick and inexpensive, generates high-resolution data much simpler than previously published works which required precise goniometric positioning.