Most mainstream optical fiber arrays on the market are made of glass optical fibers with mature technology, but these products have many limitations such as complicated preparation process, heavy mass, fragility, proneness to corrosion, poor biocompatibility, and high cost. In contrast, characterized by light weight, flexibility, resistance against interference and impact, and excellent biocompatibility, polymer optical fiber arrays have opened up new paths for performance enhancement in optical imaging technologies. We study the unique properties of polymer optical fiber arrays, especially in terms of highly flexible and biocompatible applications, and optimize key processes during the new preparation method. Meanwhile, an in-depth optimization study of the hot pressing process is carried out by adopting a design model based on the Box-Behnken response surface method. By systematically examining the effects of key parameters on the optical transmission, such as hot pressing temperature, pressure, and hot pressing time, we intuitively understand the interactions among the factors by building a mathematical model between the parameters and the response, and provide an efficient method to explore the hot pressing molding conditions. This optimization process not only enhances the preparation technology of polymer optical fiber array panels but also lays a solid foundation for their wide application in optical imaging. By conducting systematic evaluation, we expect to reveal the potential of polymer optical fiber arrays in optical imaging, which will promote the further development and wide application of related technologies. This will not only revolutionize the optical imaging technology but also inject new vitality into the development of related industries.

We employ fluorinated polymethyl methacrylate as the fiber material, which is finally hot pressing molded by a series of precise preparation processes, including key steps such as fiber preform forming, fiber drawing, fiber bundling, and arranging. To further enhance the reliability and optical imaging quality of hot pressing molding, we adopt the Box-Behnken design methodology to systematically explore the complex relationship between the hot pressing process factors (hot pressing temperature, pressure, and hot pressing time) and key response values of transmission. By utilizing the Box-Behnken design (BBD), a multifactor and multilevel experimental model is built, which can comprehensively consider the interactions among the process factors, and thus predict and optimize the process parameters more accurately. Subsequently, the fitting effect of the response model and its significance are rigorously and statistically verified by variance analysis to ensure the reliability and validity of the model. On this basis, the model response values are optimized in our study, and the optimal combination of hot-pressing process parameters is finally determined via iterative calculations and experimental validation, thus ensuring high transmission and excellent imaging quality of the polymer optical fiber array panels. Based on the prepared polymer optical fiber array panels, key performance indicators such as transmission, image displacement, magnification, and spatial resolution are systematically evaluated. These experiments not only verify the practical effectiveness of polymer optical fiber array panels in optical imaging but also provide valuable data support for further optimization and improvement of the preparation process.

Polymer optical fiber array panels with high transmission and excellent imaging quality are successfully prepared by employing the fiber preform forming-drawing-bundling-hot pressing process. This achievement is attributed to the precise superposition and optimization of key steps in the fabrication process, which both improves the surface quality of the drawn optical fibers and substantially improves the optical fiber coupling quality and overall mechanical strength and stability. As shown in Fig. 10, the internal structure of the prepared polymer fiber array unit is tight and seamless, with high array consistency and no obvious defects. BBD fits the hot pressing process parameters well, and the reliability of the hot pressing process model is also further verified by the methodology to analyze the results in Table 3 and the characteristics of the residual plots in Fig. 8. According to the response surface method, the optimal process conditions are optimized as follows: hot pressing temperature 181.8 ℃, pressure 0.28 MPa, and hot pressing time 40.8 min. The transmission of the 5 mm polymer optical fiber array panels prepared by this method reaches 94.07%. By referring to Fig. 12 for transmission comparison, the transmission of our prepared polymer optical fiber array panel is much higher than those produced by INCOM and the 3D printing method respectively. As can be seen in Fig. 15(b), the words on the text float on the surface of the output end of the polymer optical fiber panel without any aberration, and the transmission effect remains sound as the thickness of the panel increases. These experiments not only verify the practical effectiveness of polymer optical fiber array panels in optical imaging but also provide valuable data support for further optimization and improvement of the preparation process.

By adopting the ANOVA of the BBD model, it is found that in the linear term, the hot-pressing temperature (x₁) has the most significant effect on the transmission, while in the quadratic term, the interaction between pressure and hot-pressing time (x₂x₃) exerts the most significant effect on the transmission. In the optimal conditions (hot pressing temperature of 181.8 ℃, pressure of 0.28 MPa, and hot pressing time of 40.8 min) obtained by the response surface method, polymer optical fiber array panels with transmission as high as 94.07% are successfully prepared in our study, and this result is significantly better than those of the state-of-the-art methods. The excellent performance of the polymer optical fiber panel in terms of image transmission accuracy is verified by the accurate measurement of image displacement and magnification measurement and resolution test as well as the panel imaging guidance capability. The experimental results show a maximum image displacement of 240 μm, a magnification of (100±2)%, and a resolution of 10.10 lp/mm, demonstrating the superior performance of the polymer optical fiber array panel in terms of image transmission accuracy. Compared with the polymer optical fiber panel prepared by Wang et al. via 3D printing and the commercial polymer optical fiber panel of INCOM, the transmission in our study reaches 94.07% at a thickness of 5 mm. This significant improvement not only proves the effectiveness of the new process but also provides new possibilities for the application of polymer optical fiber arrays in optical imaging and optical communication, thereby laying a solid foundation for expanding applications in related fields.