塑料制成的光纤具有轻质、柔软、低成本等特点，可用于通信、图像传输、照明与装饰等领域，实现与其它光纤优势互补的各种功能.在通信领域，渐变折射率塑料光纤实现了10 Gbps@100 m的消费级传输速率和40 Gbps的测试级传输速率; 在图像传输领域，已有0.45 mm直径@7400像素和1.5 mm直径@13 000像素的传像束，以及分辨率高达256 lp/mm的光纤面板产品; 在塑料光纤激光器领域，有关增益介质、光纤长度、光纤结构等与激光器/放大器的特征性能间关系的理论与实验研究逐步深入; 在装饰和照明领域，已有用塑料光纤开发的太阳光光纤照明、造型光纤照明、光纤毯治疗仪等装置.本文就塑料光纤在上述领域的最新研究和应用情况进行综述.

Plastic optical fibers have the characteristics of lightweight, softness, low cost and so on. It is noteworthy that plastic optical fibers and other types of fibers have complementary advantages in function, then various plastic optical fibers can be applied in communication, image transmission, illumination, and decorative respectively to realize different functions. In the field of communication, graded index plastic optical fibers have obtained the transmission rate of 10 Gbps@100m in the consumption level, and 40 Gbps in the test level. In the field of image transmission, there are image bundles with 0.45 mm diameter@7 400 pixels and 1.5 mm diameter@13 000 pixels, as well as optical fiber plate products with resolutions up to 256 lp/mm. In the field of plastic optical fiber lasers, the theoretical and experimental research on the relationship between the parameters (gain medium, fiber length, fiber structure) and the characteristics of laser/amplifier is gradually deepening. In the field of decoration and illumination, lots of devices have been developed such as solar optical plastic optical fiber illumination, modeling plastic optical fiber illumination and plastic optical fiber blanket therapeutic instrument. In this paper, the latest researches and applications of plastic optical fiber mentioned above are reviewed.