Sample records for tapered fiber-optic biosensor

  1. Measuring bacterial growth by refractive index tapered fiber optic biosensor.

    PubMed

    Zibaii, Mohammad Ismail; Kazemi, Alireza; Latifi, Hamid; Azar, Mahmoud Karimi; Hosseini, Seyed Masoud; Ghezelaiagh, Mohammad Hossein

    2010-12-02

    A single-mode tapered fiber optic biosensor was utilized for real-time monitoring of the Escherichia coli (E. coli K-12) growth in an aqueous medium. The applied fiber tapers were fabricated using heat-pulling method with waist diameter and length of 6-7μm and 3mm, respectively. The bacteria were immobilized on the tapered surface using Poly-l-Lysine. By providing the proper condition, bacterial population growth on the tapered surface increases the average surface density of the cells and consequently the refractive index (RI) of the tapered region would increase. The adsorption of the cells on the tapered fiber leads to changes in the optical characteristics of the taper. This affects the evanescent field leading to changes in optical throughput. The bacterial growth rate was monitored at room temperature by transmission of a 1558.17nm distributed feedback (DFB) laser through the tapered fiber. At the same condition, after determining the growth rate of E. coli by means of colony counting method, we compared the results with that obtained from the fiber sensor measurements. This novel sensing method, promises new application such as rapid analysis of the presence of bacteria. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. A double-taper optical fiber-based radiation wave other than evanescent wave in all-fiber immunofluorescence biosensor for quantitative detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Zhonghuan; Hua, Fei; Liu, Ting; Zhao, Yong; Li, Jun; Yang, Ruifu; Yang, Changxi; Zhou, Lei

    2014-01-01

    Cylindrical or taper-and-cylinder combination optical fiber probe based on evanescent wave has been widely used for immunofluorescence biosensor to detect various analytes. In this study, in contrast to the contradiction between penetration depth and analyte diameter of optical fiber probe-based evanescent wave, we demonstrate that double-taper optical fiber used in a radiation wave-based all-fiber immunofluorescence biosensor (RWAIB) can detect micron-scale analytes using Escherichia coli O157:H7 as representative target. Finite-difference time-domain method was used to compare the properties of evanescent wave and radiation wave (RW). Ray-tracing model was formulated to optimize the taper geometry of the probe. Based on a commercial multi-mode fiber, a double-taper probe was fabricated and connected with biosensor through a "ferrule connector" optical fiber connector. The RWAIB configuration was accomplished using commercial multi-mode fibers and fiber-based devices according to the "all-fiber" method. The standard sample tests revealed that the sensitivity of the proposed technique for E. coli O157:H7 detection was 10(3) cfu · mL(-1). Quantitation could be achieved within the concentration range of 10(3) cfu · mL(-1) to 107 cfu · mL(-1). No non-specific recognition to ten kinds of food-borne pathogens was observed. The results demonstrated that based on the double-taper optical fiber RWAIB can be used for the quantitative detection of micron-scale targets, and RW sensing is an alternative for traditional evanescent wave sensing during the fabrication of fiber-optic biosensors.

  3. Fiber Optic Surface Plasmon Resonance-Based Biosensor Technique: Fabrication, Advancement, and Application.

    PubMed

    Liang, Gaoling; Luo, Zewei; Liu, Kunping; Wang, Yimin; Dai, Jianxiong; Duan, Yixiang

    2016-05-03

    Fiber optic-based biosensors with surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technology are advanced label-free optical biosensing methods. They have brought tremendous progress in the sensing of various chemical and biological species. This review summarizes four sensing configurations (prism, grating, waveguide, and fiber optic) with two ways, attenuated total reflection (ATR) and diffraction, to excite the surface plasmons. Meanwhile, the designs of different probes (U-bent, tapered, and other probes) are also described. Finally, four major types of biosensors, immunosensor, DNA biosensor, enzyme biosensor, and living cell biosensor, are discussed in detail for their sensing principles and applications. Future prospects of fiber optic-based SPR sensor technology are discussed.

  4. Tapered optical fiber sensor for label-free detection of biomolecules.

    PubMed

    Tian, Ye; Wang, Wenhui; Wu, Nan; Zou, Xiaotian; Wang, Xingwei

    2011-01-01

    This paper presents a fast, highly sensitive and low-cost tapered optical fiber biosensor that enables the label-free detection of biomolecules. The sensor takes advantage of the interference effect between the fiber's first two propagation modes along the taper waist region. The biomolecules bonded on the taper surface were determined by demodulating the transmission spectrum phase shift. Because of the sharp spectrum fringe signals, as well as a relatively long biomolecule testing region, the sensor displayed a fast response and was highly sensitive. To better understand the influence of various biomolecules on the sensor, a numerical simulation that varied biolayer parameters such as thickness and refractive index was performed. The results showed that the spectrum fringe shift was obvious to be measured even when the biolayer was only nanometers thick. A microchannel chip was designed and fabricated for the protection of the sensor and biotesting. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) fabrication techniques were used to precisely control the profile and depth of the microchannel on the silicon chip with an accuracy of 2 μm. A tapered optical fiber biosensor was fabricated and evaluated with an Immune globulin G (IgG) antibody-antigen pair.

  5. Adiabatic tapered optical fiber fabrication in two step etching

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chenari, Z.; Latifi, H.; Ghamari, S.; Hashemi, R. S.; Doroodmand, F.

    2016-01-01

    A two-step etching method using HF acid and Buffered HF is proposed to fabricate adiabatic biconical optical fiber tapers. Due to the fact that the etching rate in second step is almost 3 times slower than the previous droplet etching method, terminating the fabrication process is controllable enough to achieve a desirable fiber diameter. By monitoring transmitted spectrum, final diameter and adiabaticity of tapers are deduced. Tapers with losses about 0.3 dB in air and 4.2 dB in water are produced. The biconical fiber taper fabricated using this method is used to excite whispering gallery modes (WGMs) on a microsphere surface in an aquatic environment. So that they are suitable to be used in applications like WGM biosensors.

  6. Single mode tapered fiber-optic interferometer based refractive index sensor and its application to protein sensing.

    PubMed

    Yadav, T K; Narayanaswamy, R; Abu Bakar, M H; Kamil, Y Mustapha; Mahdi, M A

    2014-09-22

    We demonstrate refractive index sensors based on single mode tapered fiber and its application as a biosensor. We utilize this tapered fiber optic biosensor, operating at 1550 nm, for the detection of protein (gelatin) concentration in water. The sensor is based on the spectroscopy of mode coupling based on core modes-fiber cladding modes excited by the fundamental core mode of an optical fiber when it transitions into tapered regions from untapered regions. The changes are determined from the wavelength shift of the transmission spectrum. The proposed fiber sensor has sensitivity of refractive index around 1500 nm/RIU and for protein concentration detection, its highest sensitivity is 2.42141 nm/%W/V.

  7. Tapered Optical Fiber Sensor for Label-Free Detection of Biomolecules

    PubMed Central

    Tian, Ye; Wang, Wenhui; Wu, Nan; Zou, Xiaotian; Wang, Xingwei

    2011-01-01

    This paper presents a fast, highly sensitive and low-cost tapered optical fiber biosensor that enables the label-free detection of biomolecules. The sensor takes advantage of the interference effect between the fiber’s first two propagation modes along the taper waist region. The biomolecules bonded on the taper surface were determined by demodulating the transmission spectrum phase shift. Because of the sharp spectrum fringe signals, as well as a relatively long biomolecule testing region, the sensor displayed a fast response and was highly sensitive. To better understand the influence of various biomolecules on the sensor, a numerical simulation that varied biolayer parameters such as thickness and refractive index was performed. The results showed that the spectrum fringe shift was obvious to be measured even when the biolayer was only nanometers thick. A microchannel chip was designed and fabricated for the protection of the sensor and biotesting. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) fabrication techniques were used to precisely control the profile and depth of the microchannel on the silicon chip with an accuracy of 2 μm. A tapered optical fiber biosensor was fabricated and evaluated with an Immune globulin G (IgG) antibody-antigen pair. PMID:22163821

  8. Tapered fiber nanoprobes: plasmonic nanopillars on tapered optical fiber tips for large EM enhancement.

    PubMed

    Savaliya, Priten; Dhawan, Anuj

    2016-10-01

    Employing finite difference time domain simulations, we demonstrate that electromagnetic field enhancement is substantially greater for tapered optical fibers with plasmonic nanostructures present on their tips as compared with non-tapered optical fibers having those plasmonic nanostructures, or with tapered optical fibers without the plasmonic nanostructures. We also carried out fabrication of plasmonic nanostructures on optical fiber tips.

  9. Fiber optic choline biosensor

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Hong; Cao, Xiaojian; Jia, Ke; Chai, Xueting; Lu, Hua; Lu, Zuhong

    2001-10-01

    A fiber optic fluorescence biosensor for choline is introduced in this paper. Choline is an important neurotransmitter in mammals. Due to the growing needs for on-site clinical monitoring of the choline, much effect has been devoted to develop choline biosensors. Fiber-optic fluorescence biosensors have many advantages, including miniaturization, flexibility, and lack of electrical contact and interference. The choline fiber-optic biosensor we designed implemented a bifurcated fiber to perform fluorescence measurements. The light of the blue LED is coupled into one end of the fiber as excitation and the emission spectrum from sensing film is monitored by fiber-spectrometer (S2000, Ocean Optics) through the other end of the fiber. The sensing end of the fiber is coated with Nafion film dispersed with choline oxidase and oxygen sensitive luminescent Ru(II) complex (Tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)dichlororuthenium(II), hexahydrate). Choline oxidase catalyzes the oxidation of choline to betaine and hydrogen peroxide while consuming oxygen. The fluorescence intensity of oxygen- sensitive Ru(II) are related to the choline concentration. The response of the fiber-optic sensor in choline solution is represented and discussed. The result indicates a low-cost, high-performance, portable choline biosensor.

  10. Fiber optic-based biosensor

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ligler, Frances S.

    1991-01-01

    The NRL fiber optic biosensor is a device which measures the formation of a fluorescent complex at the surface of an optical fiber. Antibodies and DNA binding proteins provide the mechanism for recognizing an analyze and immobilizing a fluorescent complex on the fiber surface. The fiber optic biosensor is fast, sensitive, and permits analysis of hazardous materials remote from the instrumentation. The fiber optic biosensor is described in terms of the device configuration, chemistry for protein immobilization, and assay development. A lab version is being used for assay development and performance characterization while a portable device is under development. Antibodies coated on the fiber are stable for up to two years of storage prior to use. The fiber optic biosensor was used to measure concentration of toxins in the parts per billion (ng/ml) range in under a minute. Immunoassays for small molecules and whole bacteria are under development. Assays using DNA probes as the detection element can also be used with the fiber optic sensor, which is currently being developed to detect biological warfare agents, explosives, pathogens, and toxic materials which pollute the environment.

  11. Real-time association rate constant measurement using combination tapered fiber-optic biosensor (CTFOB) dip-probes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Simmonds, Boris; Wang, Chun-Wei; Kapoor, Rakesh

    2010-02-01

    This document reports a novel method of measuring association rate constant (ka) for antibody-antigen interaction using evanescent wave-based combination tapered fiber-optic biosensor (CTFOB) dip-probes. The method was demonstrated by measuring association rate constant for bovine serum albumin (BSA) and anti-BSA antibody interaction. "Direct method" was used for detection; goat anti-BSA "capture" antibodies were immobilized on the probe surfaces while the antigen (BSA) was directly labeled with Alexa 488 dye. The probes were subsequently submerged in 3nM Labeled BSA in egg albumin (1 mg/ml). The fluorescence signal recorded was proportional to BSA anti-BSA conjugates and continuous signal was acquired suing a fiber optic spectrometer (Ocean Optics, Inc.). A 476 nm diode laser was use as an excitation source. Association constant was estimated from a plot of signal as a function of time. Measured association rate constant ka for the binding of BSA with anti-BSA at room temperature is (8.33 +/- 0.01) x 104 M-1s-1.

  12. Optical fiber-based biosensors.

    PubMed

    Monk, David J; Walt, David R

    2004-08-01

    This review outlines optical fiber-based biosensor research from January 2001 through September 2003 and was written to complement the previous review in this journal by Marazuela and Moreno-Bondi. Optical fiber-based biosensors combine the use of a biological recognition element with an optical fiber or optical fiber bundle. They are classified by the nature of the biological recognition element used for sensing: enzyme, antibody/antigen (immunoassay), nucleic acid, whole cell, and biomimetic, and may be used for a variety of analytes ranging from metals and chemicals to physiological materials.

  13. Monitoring techniques for the manufacture of tapered optical fibers.

    PubMed

    Mullaney, Kevin; Correia, Ricardo; Staines, Stephen E; James, Stephen W; Tatam, Ralph P

    2015-10-01

    The use of a range of optical techniques to monitor the process of fabricating optical fiber tapers is investigated. Thermal imaging was used to optimize the alignment of the optical system; the transmission spectrum of the fiber was monitored to confirm that the tapers had the required optical properties and the strain induced in the fiber during tapering was monitored using in-line optical fiber Bragg gratings. Tapers were fabricated with diameters down to 5 μm and with waist lengths of 20 mm using single-mode SMF-28 fiber.

  14. Nonadiabatic tapered optical fiber sensor for measurement of antimicrobial activity of silver nanoparticles against Escherichia coli.

    PubMed

    Zibaii, Mohammad Ismail; Latifi, Hamid; Saeedian, Zahra; Chenari, Zinab

    2014-06-05

    Silver nanoparticles (SNPs) exhibit antibacterial properties via bacterial inactivation and growth inhibition but the mechanism is not yet completely understood. In this study a label free and rapid detection method for study of antimicrobial activity of the SNP against Escherichia coli (E. coli K-12) is investigated using a nonadiabtic tapered fiber optic (NATOF) biosensor. The results show that SNPs interact with bacteria either by anchoring to or penetrating into the bacterial cell layer. These mechanism changes the refractive index (RI) of the tapered region, which in turn lead to the changes in the optical characteristics of the tapered fiber and output signals. With similar conditions for bacteria, the inhibition rate of the E. coli growth was measured by colony counting method as an experimental control and the results were compared with those obtained from the fiber sensor measurements. For SNP concentrations ranging from 0 to 50 μg ml(-1) the inhibition rates of the E. coli growth were measured to be from 1.27 h(-1) to -0.69 h(-1) and from -3.00×10(-3) h(-1) to -1.98×10(-2) h(-1) for colony counting and optical fiber biosensor, respectively. The results demonstrate the potential of the proposed NATOF biosensor as a label free and rapid sensing platform for understanding the mechanism of antibacterial effects of SNPs. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Fiber optic biosensor fabricated for measuring the growth rate of Escherichia coli K-12 in the aqueous

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zibaii, M. I.; Kazemi, A.; Latifi, H.; Karimi Azar, M.; Hosseini, S. M.; Ghezelaiagh, M. H.

    2010-09-01

    A single-mode tapered fiber optic biosensor was utilized for real-time monitoring of the Escherichia coli (E. coli K-12) growth in an aqueous medium. The applied fiber tapers were fabricated using heat-pulling method with waist diameter and length of 6-7μm and 3mm, respectively. The bacteria were immobilized on the tapered surface using Poly-L-Lysine. By providing the proper condition, bacterial population growth on the tapered surface increases the average surface density of the cells and consequently the refractive index (RI) of the tapered region would increase. The adsorption of the cells on the tapered fiber leads to changes in the optical characteristics of the taper. This affects the evanescent field leading to changes in optical throughput. The bacterial growth rate was monitored at room temperature by transmission of a 1558.17nm distributed feedback (DFB) laser through the tapered fiber. At the same condition, after determining the growth rate of E. coli by means of colony counting method, we compared the results with that obtained from the fiber sensor measurements. This novel sensing method, promises new application such as rapid analysis of the presence of bacteria.

  16. Recent Development in Optical Fiber Biosensors

    PubMed Central

    Bosch, María Espinosa; Sánchez, Antonio Jesús Ruiz; Rojas, Fuensanta Sánchez; Ojeda, Catalina Bosch

    2007-01-01

    Remarkable developments can be seen in the field of optical fibre biosensors in the last decade. More sensors for specific analytes have been reported, novel sensing chemistries or transduction principles have been introduced, and applications in various analytical fields have been realised. This review consists of papers mainly reported in the last decade and presents about applications of optical fiber biosensors. Discussions on the trends in optical fiber biosensor applications in real samples are enumerated.

  17. In-line optical fiber sensors based on cladded multimode tapered fibers.

    PubMed

    Villatoro, Joel; Monzón-Hernández, David; Luna-Moreno, Donato

    2004-11-10

    The use of uniform-waist cladded multimode tapered optical fibers is demonstrated for evanescent wave spectroscopy and sensors. The tapering is a simple, low-loss process and consists of stretching the fiber while it is being heated with an oscillating flame torch. As examples, a refractive-index sensor and a hydrogen sensor are demonstrated by use of a conventional graded-index multimode optical fiber. Also, absorbance spectra are measured while the tapers are immersed in an absorbing liquid. It is found experimentally that the uniform waist is the part of the taper that contributes most to the sensor sensitivity. The taper waist diameter may also be used to adjust the sensor dynamic range.

  18. Tapered rib fiber coupler for semiconductor optical devices

    DOEpatents

    Vawter, Gregory A.; Smith, Robert Edward

    2001-01-01

    A monolithic tapered rib waveguide for transformation of the spot size of light between a semiconductor optical device and an optical fiber or from the fiber into the optical device. The tapered rib waveguide is integrated into the guiding rib atop a cutoff mesa type semiconductor device such as an expanded mode optical modulator or and expanded mode laser. The tapered rib acts to force the guided light down into the mesa structure of the semiconductor optical device instead of being bound to the interface between the bottom of the guiding rib and the top of the cutoff mesa. The single mode light leaving or entering the output face of the mesa structure then can couple to the optical fiber at coupling losses of 1.0 dB or less.

  19. Using a slightly tapered optical fiber to attract and transport microparticles.

    PubMed

    Sheu, Fang-Wen; Wu, Hong-Yu; Chen, Sy-Hann

    2010-03-15

    We exploit a fiber puller to transform a telecom single-mode optical fiber with a 125 microm diameter into a symmetric and unbroken slightly tapered optical fiber with a 50 microm diameter at the minimum waist. When the laser light is launched into the optical fiber, we can observe that, due to the evanescent wave of the slightly tapered fiber, the nearby polystyrene microparticles with 10 microm diameters will be attracted onto the fiber surface and roll separately in the direction of light propagation. We have also simulated and compared the optical propulsion effects on the microparticles when the laser light is launched into a slightly tapered fiber and a heavily tapered (subwavelength) fiber, respectively.

  20. Portable fiber-optic taper coupled optical microscopy platform

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Weiming; Yu, Yan; Huang, Hui; Ou, Jinping

    2017-04-01

    The optical fiber taper coupled with CMOS has advantages of high sensitivity, compact structure and low distortion in the imaging platform. So it is widely used in low light, high speed and X-ray imaging systems. In the meanwhile, the peculiarity of the coupled structure can meet the needs of the demand in microscopy imaging. Toward this end, we developed a microscopic imaging platform based on the coupling of cellphone camera module and fiber optic taper for the measurement of the human blood samples and ascaris lumbricoides. The platform, weighing 70 grams, is based on the existing camera module of the smartphone and a fiber-optic array which providing a magnification factor of 6x.The top facet of the taper, on which samples are placed, serves as an irregular sampling grid for contact imaging. The magnified images of the sample, located on the bottom facet of the fiber, are then projected onto the CMOS sensor. This paper introduces the portable medical imaging system based on the optical fiber coupling with CMOS, and theoretically analyzes the feasibility of the system. The image data and process results either can be stored on the memory or transmitted to the remote medical institutions for the telemedicine. We validate the performance of this cell-phone based microscopy platform using human blood samples and test target, achieving comparable results to a standard bench-top microscope.

  1. Mid-IR soliton compression in silicon optical fibers and fiber tapers.

    PubMed

    Peacock, Anna C

    2012-03-01

    Numerical simulations are used to investigate soliton compression in silicon core optical fibers at 2.3 μm in the mid-infrared waveguide regime. Compression in both standard silicon fibers and fiber tapers is compared to establish the relative compression ratios for a range of input pulse conditions. The results show that tapered fibers can be used to obtain higher levels of compression for moderate soliton orders and thus lower input powers. © 2012 Optical Society of America

  2. Supercontinuum generation in a tapered tellurite microstructured optical fiber

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yan, X.; Ohishi, Y.

    2014-07-01

    Supercontinuum generation (SCG) was investigated in tapered tellurite microstructured optical fibers (MOFs) for various taper profiles. We emphasize on the procedure for finding the dispersion profile that achieve the best width of the SC spectra. An enhancement of the SCG is achieved by varying the taper waist diameter along its length in a carefully designed, and an optimal degree of tapering is found to exist for tapers with an axially uniform waist. We also show the XFROG spectrograms of the pulses propagating through different tapered fibers, confirming the optimized taper conditions.

  3. Tapered fiber optical tweezers for microscopic particle trapping: fabrication and application

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Zhihai; Guo, Chengkai; Yang, Jun; Yuan, Libo

    2006-12-01

    A novel single tapered fiber optical tweezers is proposed and fabricated by heating and drawing technology. The microscopic particle tapping performance of this special designed tapered fiber probe is demonstrated and investigated. The distribution of the optical field emerging from the tapered fiber tip is numerically calculated based on the beam propagation method. The trapping force FDTD analysis results, both axial and transverse, are also given.

  4. Characterized Brillouin scattering in silica optical fiber tapers based on Brillouin optical correlation domain analysis.

    PubMed

    Zou, Weiwen; Jiang, Wenning; Chen, Jianping

    2013-03-11

    This paper demonstrates stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) characterization in silica optical fiber tapers drawn from commercial single mode optical fibers by hydrogen flame. They have different waist diameters downscaled from 5 μm to 42 μm. The fully-distributed SBS measurement along the fiber tapers is implemented by Brillouin optical correlation domain analysis technique with millimeter spatial resolution. It is found that the Brillouin frequency shift (BFS) in the waist of all fiber tapers is approximately the same (i.e., ~11.17 GHz at 1550 nm). However, the BFS is gradually reduced and the Brillouin gain decreases from the waist to the untapered zone in each fiber taper.

  5. Polymer optical fiber tapering using hot water

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mizuno, Yosuke; Ujihara, Hiroki; Lee, Heeyoung; Hayashi, Neisei; Nakamura, Kentaro

    2017-06-01

    We perform a pilot trial of highly convenient taper fabrication for polymer optical fibers (POFs) using hot water. A ∼380-mm-long POF taper is successfully fabricated, and its ∼150-mm-long waist has a uniform outer diameter of ∼230 µm. The shape is in good agreement with the theoretical prediction. The optical loss dependence on the strain applied to the waist shows an interesting behavior exhibiting three regimes, the origins of which are inferred by microscopic observations. We then discuss the controllability of the taper length.

  6. Multipoint fiber-optic laser-ultrasonic actuator based on fiber core-opened tapers.

    PubMed

    Tian, Jiajun; Dong, Xiaolong; Gao, Shimin; Yao, Yong

    2017-11-27

    In this study, a novel fiber-optic, multipoint, laser-ultrasonic actuator based on fiber core-opened tapers (COTs) is proposed and demonstrated. The COTs were fabricated by splicing single-mode fibers using a standard fiber splicer. A COT can effectively couple part of a core mode into cladding modes, and the coupling ratio can be controlled by adjusting the taper length. Such characteristics are used to obtain a multipoint, laser-ultrasonic actuator with balanced signal strength by reasonably controlling the taper lengths of the COTs. As a prototype, we constructed an actuator that generated ultrasound at four points with a balanced ultrasonic strength by connecting four COTs with coupling ratios of 24.5%, 33.01%, 49.51%, and 87.8% in a fiber link. This simple-to-fabricate, multipoint, laser-ultrasonic actuator with balanced ultrasound signal strength has potential applications in fiber-optic ultrasound testing technology.

  7. Optical microscope and tapered fiber coupling apparatus for a dilution refrigerator.

    PubMed

    MacDonald, A J R; Popowich, G G; Hauer, B D; Kim, P H; Fredrick, A; Rojas, X; Doolin, P; Davis, J P

    2015-01-01

    We have developed a system for tapered fiber measurements of optomechanical resonators inside a dilution refrigerator, which is compatible with both on- and off-chip devices. Our apparatus features full three-dimensional control of the taper-resonator coupling conditions enabling critical coupling, with an overall fiber transmission efficiency of up to 70%. Notably, our design incorporates an optical microscope system consisting of a coherent bundle of 37,000 optical fibers for real-time imaging of the experiment at a resolution of ∼1 μm. We present cryogenic optical and optomechanical measurements of resonators coupled to tapered fibers at temperatures as low as 9 mK.

  8. Fiber Surface Modification Technology for Fiber-Optic Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensors

    PubMed Central

    Zhang, Qiang; Xue, Chenyang; Yuan, Yanling; Lee, Junyang; Sun, Dong; Xiong, Jijun

    2012-01-01

    Considerable studies have been performed on the development of optical fiber sensors modified by gold nanoparticles based on the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) technique. The current paper presents a new approach in fiber surface modification technology for biosensors. Star-shaped gold nanoparticles obtained through the seed-mediated solution growth method were found to self-assemble on the surface of tapered optical fibers via amino- and mercapto-silane coupling agents. Transmitted power spectra of 3-aminopropyltrimethoxy silane (APTMS)-modified fiber were obtained, which can verify that the silane coupling agent surface modification method is successful. Transmission spectra are characterized in different concentrations of ethanol and gentian violet solutions to validate the sensitivity of the modified fiber. Assembly using star-shaped gold nanoparticles and amino/mercapto silane coupling agent are analyzed and compared. The transmission spectra of the gold nanoparticles show that the nanoparticles are sensitive to the dielectric properties of the surrounding medium. After the fibers are treated in t-dodecylmercaptan to obtain their transmission spectra, APTMS-modified fiber becomes less sensitive to different media, except that modified by 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxy silane (MPTMS). Experimental results of the transmission spectra show that the surface modified by the gold nanoparticles using MPTMS is firmer compared to that obtained using APTMS. PMID:22736974

  9. Temperature sensing through long period fiber gratings mechanically induced on tapered optical fibers.

    PubMed

    Pulido-Navarro, María Guadalupe; Escamilla-Ambrosio, Ponciano Jorge; Marrujo-García, Sigifredo; Álvarez-Chávez, José Alfredo; Martínez-Piñón, Fernando

    2017-07-01

    In this work the feasibility of employing two well-known techniques already used on designing optical fiber sensors is explored. The first technique employed involves monomode tapered fibers, which were fabricated using a taper machine designed, built, and implemented in our laboratory. This implementation greatly reduced the costs and fabrication time allowing us to produce the desired taper length and transmission conditions. The second technique used fiber Bragg gratings, which we decided to have mechanically induced and for that reason we devised and produced our own mechanical gratings with the help of a computer numerical control tool. This grating had to be fabricated with aluminum to withstand temperatures of up to 600°C. When light traveling through an optical fiber reaches a taper it couples into the cladding layer and comes back into the core when the taper ends. In the same manner, when the light encounters gratings in the fiber, it couples to the cladding modes, and when the gratings end, the light couples back into the core. For our experimentation, the tapering machine was programmed to fabricate single-mode tapers with 3 cm length, and the mechanically induced gratings characteristics were 5 cm length, and had a period of 500 μm and depth of the period of 300 μm. For the conducting tests, the tapered fiber is positioned in between two aluminum slabs, one grooved and the other plane. These two blocks accomplish the mechanically induced long period grating (LPG); the gratings on the grooved plaque are imprinted on the taper forming the period gratings. An optical spectrum analyzer is used to observe the changes on the transmission spectrum as the temperature varies from 20°C to 600°C. The resultant attenuation peak wavelength in the transmission spectrum shifts up to 8 nm, which is a higher shift compared to what has been reported using nontapered fibers. As the temperature increases there is no longer a shift, but there is significant power loss

  10. Welding-fume-induced transmission loss in tapered optical fibers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yi, Ji-Haeng

    2015-09-01

    This paper presents a method for sensing welding fumes in real time. This method is based on the results of nanoparticle-induced optical-fiber loss experiments that show that the losses are determined by the nanoparticle density and the taper waist. The tapered fiber is obtained by applying heat radiated from hot quartz, and monitoring is done in real time. First, the durability of the tapered fiber during the welding process is proven. Then, the loss is categorized by using the sizes of welding fume particles. The sensitivity to welding fumes increases with increasing size of the particles; consequently, the dimension of the taper waist decreases.

  11. Pulse compression using a tapered microstructure optical fiber.

    PubMed

    Hu, Jonathan; Marks, Brian S; Menyuk, Curtis R; Kim, Jinchae; Carruthers, Thomas F; Wright, Barbara M; Taunay, Thierry F; Friebele, E J

    2006-05-01

    We calculate the pulse compression in a tapered microstructure optical fiber with four layers of holes. We show that the primary limitation on pulse compression is the loss due to mode leakage. As a fiber's diameter decreases due to the tapering, so does the air-hole diameter, and at a sufficiently small diameter the guided mode loss becomes unacceptably high. For the four-layer geometry we considered, a compression factor of 10 can be achieved by a pulse with an initial FWHM duration of 3 ps in a tapered fiber that is 28 m long. We find that there is little difference in the pulse compression between a linear taper profile and a Gaussian taper profile. More layers of air-holes allows the pitch to decrease considerably before losses become unacceptable, but only a moderate increase in the degree of pulse compression is obtained.

  12. Experimental stress–strain analysis of tapered silica optical fibers with nanofiber waist

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Holleis, S.; Hoinkes, T.; Wuttke, C.

    2014-04-21

    We experimentally determine tensile force–elongation diagrams of tapered optical fibers with a nanofiber waist. The tapered optical fibers are produced from standard silica optical fibers using a heat and pull process. Both, the force–elongation data and scanning electron microscope images of the rupture points indicate a brittle material. Despite the small waist radii of only a few hundred nanometers, our experimental data can be fully explained by a nonlinear stress–strain model that relies on material properties of macroscopic silica optical fibers. This is an important asset when it comes to designing miniaturized optical elements as one can rely on themore » well-founded material characteristics of standard optical fibers. Based on this understanding, we demonstrate a simple and non-destructive technique that allows us to determine the waist radius of the tapered optical fiber. We find excellent agreement with independent scanning electron microscope measurements of the waist radius.« less

  13. Measuring the charge density of a tapered optical fiber using trapped microparticles.

    PubMed

    Kamitani, Kazuhiko; Muranaka, Takuya; Takashima, Hideaki; Fujiwara, Masazumi; Tanaka, Utako; Takeuchi, Shigeki; Urabe, Shinji

    2016-03-07

    We report the measurements of charge density of tapered optical fibers using charged particles confined in a linear Paul trap at ambient pressure. A tapered optical fiber is placed across the trap axis at a right angle, and polystyrene microparticles are trapped along the trap axis. The distance between the equilibrium position of a positively charged particle and the tapered fiber is used to estimate the amount of charge per unit length of the fiber without knowing the amount of charge of the trapped particle. The charge per unit length of a tapered fiber with a diameter of 1.6 μm was measured to be 2-1+3×10 -11 C/m.

  14. Fiber-Optic Chemical Sensors and Fiber-Optic Bio-Sensors

    PubMed Central

    Pospíšilová, Marie; Kuncová, Gabriela; Trögl, Josef

    2015-01-01

    This review summarizes principles and current stage of development of fiber-optic chemical sensors (FOCS) and biosensors (FOBS). Fiber optic sensor (FOS) systems use the ability of optical fibers (OF) to guide the light in the spectral range from ultraviolet (UV) (180 nm) up to middle infrared (IR) (10 µm) and modulation of guided light by the parameters of the surrounding environment of the OF core. The introduction of OF in the sensor systems has brought advantages such as measurement in flammable and explosive environments, immunity to electrical noises, miniaturization, geometrical flexibility, measurement of small sample volumes, remote sensing in inaccessible sites or harsh environments and multi-sensing. The review comprises briefly the theory of OF elaborated for sensors, techniques of fabrications and analytical results reached with fiber-optic chemical and biological sensors. PMID:26437407

  15. Fiber-Optic Chemical Sensors and Fiber-Optic Bio-Sensors.

    PubMed

    Pospíšilová, Marie; Kuncová, Gabriela; Trögl, Josef

    2015-09-30

    This review summarizes principles and current stage of development of fiber-optic chemical sensors (FOCS) and biosensors (FOBS). Fiber optic sensor (FOS) systems use the ability of optical fibers (OF) to guide the light in the spectral range from ultraviolet (UV) (180 nm) up to middle infrared (IR) (10 μm) and modulation of guided light by the parameters of the surrounding environment of the OF core. The introduction of OF in the sensor systems has brought advantages such as measurement in flammable and explosive environments, immunity to electrical noises, miniaturization, geometrical flexibility, measurement of small sample volumes, remote sensing in inaccessible sites or harsh environments and multi-sensing. The review comprises briefly the theory of OF elaborated for sensors, techniques of fabrications and analytical results reached with fiber-optic chemical and biological sensors.

  16. High-density fiber optic biosensor arrays

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Epstein, Jason R.; Walt, David R.

    2002-02-01

    Novel approaches are required to coordinate the immense amounts of information derived from diverse genomes. This concept has influenced the expanded role of high-throughput DNA detection and analysis in the biological sciences. A high-density fiber optic DNA biosensor was developed consisting of oligonucleotide-functionalized, 3.1 mm diameter microspheres deposited into the etched wells on the distal face of a 500 micrometers imaging fiber bundle. Imaging fiber bundles containing thousands of optical fibers, each associated with a unique oligonucleotide probe sequence, were the foundation for an optically connected, individually addressable DNA detection platform. Different oligonucleotide-functionalized microspheres were combined in a stock solution, and randomly dispersed into the etched wells. Microsphere positions were registered from optical dyes incorporated onto the microspheres. The distribution process provided an inherent redundancy that increases the signal-to-noise ratio as the square root of the number of sensors examined. The representative amount of each probe-type in the array was dependent on their initial stock solution concentration, and as other sequences of interest arise, new microsphere elements can be added to arrays without altering the existing detection capabilities. The oligonucleotide probe sequences hybridize to fluorescently-labeled, complementary DNA target solutions. Fiber optic DNA microarray research has included DNA-protein interaction profiles, microbial strain differentiation, non-labeled target interrogation with molecular beacons, and single cell-based assays. This biosensor array is proficient in DNA detection linked to specific disease states, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP's) discrimination, and gene expression analysis. This array platform permits multiple detection formats, provides smaller feature sizes, and enables sensor design flexibility. High-density fiber optic microarray biosensors provide a fast

  17. Sensitive Leptospira DNA detection using tapered optical fiber sensor.

    PubMed

    Zainuddin, Nurul H; Chee, Hui Y; Ahmad, Muhammad Z; Mahdi, Mohd A; Abu Bakar, Muhammad H; Yaacob, Mohd H

    2018-03-23

    This paper presents the development of tapered optical fiber sensor to detect a specific Leptospira bacteria DNA. The bacteria causes Leptospirosis, a deadly disease but with common early flu-like symptoms. Optical single mode fiber (SMF) of 125 μm diameter is tapered to produce 12 μm waist diameter and 15 cm length. The novel DNA-based optical fiber sensor is functionalized by incubating the tapered region with sodium hydroxide (NaOH), (3-Aminopropyl) triethoxysilane and glutaraldehyde. Probe DNA is immobilized onto the tapered region and subsequently hybridized by its complementary DNA (cDNA). The transmission spectra of the DNA-based optical fiber sensor are measured in the 1500 to 1600 nm wavelength range. It is discovered that the shift of the wavelength in the SMF sensor is linearly proportional with the increase in the cDNA concentrations from 0.1 to 1.0 nM. The sensitivity of the sensor toward DNA is measured to be 1.2862 nm/nM and able to detect as low as 0.1 fM. The sensor indicates high specificity when only minimal shift is detected for non-cDNA testing. The developed sensor is able to distinguish between actual DNA of Leptospira serovars (Canicola and Copenhageni) against Clostridium difficile (control sample) at very low (femtomolar) target concentrations. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  18. DNA-Aptamer optical biosensors based on a LPG-SPR optical fiber platform for point-of-care diagnostic

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Coelho, L.; Queirós, R. B.; Santos, J. L.; Martins, M. Cristina L.; Viegas, D.; Jorge, P. A. S.

    2014-03-01

    Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) is the base for some of the most sensitive label free optical fiber biosensors. However, most solutions presented to date require the use of fragile fiber optic structure such as adiabatic tapers or side polished fibers. On the other hand, long-period fiber gratings (LPG) present themselves as an interesting solution to attain an evanescent wave refractive index sensor platform while preserving the optical fiber integrity. The combination of these two approaches constitute a powerful platform that can potentially reach the highest sensitivities as it was recently demonstrated by detailed theoretical study [1, 2]. In this work, a LPG-SPR platform is explored in different configurations (metal coating between two LPG - symmetric and asymmetric) operating in the telecom band (around 1550 nm). For this purpose LPGs with period of 396 μm are combined with tailor made metallic thin films. In particular, the sensing regions were coated with 2 nm of chromium to improve the adhesion to the fiber and 16 nm of gold followed by a 100 nm thick layer of TiO2 dielectric material strategically chosen to attain plasmon resonance in the desired wavelength range. The obtained refractometric platforms were then validated as a biosensor. For this purpose the detection of thrombin using an aptamer based probe was used as a model system for protein detection. The surface of the sensing fibers were cleaned with isopropanol and dried with N2 and then the aminated thrombin aptamer (5'-[NH2]- GGTTGGTGTGGTTGG-3') was immobilized by physisorption using Poly-L-Lysine (PLL) as cationic polymer. Preliminary results indicate the viability of the LPFG-SPR-APTAMER as a flexible platforms point of care diagnostic biosensors.

  19. Fiber optic-based regenerable biosensor

    DOEpatents

    Sepaniak, Michael J.; Vo-Dinh, Tuan

    1993-01-01

    A fiber optic-based regenerable biosensor. The biosensor is particularly suitable for use in microscale work in situ. In one embodiment, the biosensor comprises a reaction chamber disposed adjacent the distal end of a waveguide and adapted to receive therein a quantity of a sample containing an analyte. Leading into the chamber is a plurality of capillary conduits suitable for introducing into the chamber antibodies or other reagents suitable for selective interaction with a predetermined analyte. Following such interaction, the contents of the chamber may be subjected to an incident energy signal for developing fluorescence within the chamber that is detectable via the optical fiber and which is representative of the presence, i.e. concentration, of the selected analyte. Regeneration of the biosensor is accomplished by replacement of the reagents and/or the analyte, or a combination of these, at least in part via one or more of the capillary conduits. The capillary conduits extend from their respective terminal ends that are in fluid communication with the chamber, away from the chamber to respective location(s) remote from the chamber thereby permitting in situ location of the chamber and remote manipulation and/or analysis of the activity with the chamber.

  20. Application of fiber tapers in astronomy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marcel, Jaclyn; Haynes, Roger; Bland-Hawthorn, Joss

    2006-06-01

    Fiber tapers have the potential to significantly advance instrument technology into the realm of fully integrated optical systems. Our initial investigation was directed at the use of fiber tapers as f-ratio transformation devices. Using a technique developed for testing focal ratio degradation (FRD), a collimated light source was injected at different angles into various fiber taper samples and the far-field profile of the fiber output was observed. We compare the FRD present in the optical fiber tapers with conventional fibers and determine how effectively fiber tapers perform as image converters. We demonstrate that while silica fiber tapers may have slightly more intrinsic FRD than conventional fibers they still show promise as adiabatic mode transformers and are worth investigating further for their potential use in astronomical instruments. In this paper we present a brief review of the current status of fiber tapers with particular focus on the astronomical applications. We demonstrate the conservation of etendue in the taper transformation process and present the experimental results for a number of different taper profiles and manufacturers.

  1. Tunable optofluidic microring laser based on a tapered hollow core microstructured optical fiber.

    PubMed

    Li, Zhi-Li; Zhou, Wen-Yuan; Luo, Ming-Ming; Liu, Yan-Ge; Tian, Jian-Guo

    2015-04-20

    A tunable optofluidic microring dye laser within a tapered hollow core microstructured optical fiber was demonstrated. The fiber core was filled with a microfluidic gain medium plug and axially pumped by a nanosecond pulse laser at 532 nm. Strong radial emission and low-threshold lasing (16 nJ/pulse) were achieved. Lasing was achieved around the surface of the microfluidic plug. Laser emission was tuned by changing the liquid surface location along the tapered fiber. The possibility of developing a tunable laser within the tapered simplified hollow core microstructured optical fiber presents opportunities for developing liquid surface position sensors and biomedical analysis.

  2. Tapered enlarged ends in multimode optical fibers.

    PubMed

    Brenci, M; Falciai, R; Scheggi, A M

    1982-01-15

    Radiation characteristics of multimode fibers with enlarged tapers were investigated on a number of samples obtained by varying the fiber drawing speed with a given law corresponding to a prefixed taper profile. The characterization of the fibers was made by near- and far-field intensity pattern measurements as well as by measuring the losses introduced by the taper. With a suitable choice of parameters the taper constitutes a reasonable low-loss component useful, for example, for either efficient coupling to large-spot high-power density sources or connecting fibers of different sizes. Conversely at the exit of the fiber the taper can be used for beam shaping which is of interest for mechanical or surgical applications.

  3. Trapping and propelling microparticles at long range by using an entirely stripped and slightly tapered no-core optical fiber.

    PubMed

    Sheu, Fang-Wen; Huang, Yen-Si

    2013-02-28

    A stripped no-core optical fiber with a 125 µm diameter was transformed into a symmetric and unbroken optical fiber that tapers slightly to a 45-µm-diameter waist. The laser light can be easily launched into the no-core optical fiber. The enhanced evanescent wave of the slightly tapered no-core optical fiber can attract nearby 5-µm-diameter polystyrene microparticles onto the surface of the tapered multimode optical fiber within fast flowing fluid and propel the trapped particles in the direction of the light propagation to longer delivery range than is possible using a slightly tapered telecom single-mode optical fiber.

  4. FIBER OPTIC BIOSENSOR FOR DNA DAMAGE

    EPA Science Inventory

    This paper describes a fiber optic biosensor for the rapid and sensitive detection of radiation-induced or chemically-induced oxidative DNA damage. The assay is based on the hybridization and temperature-induced dissociation (melting curves) of synthetic oligonucleotides. The...

  5. Trapping and Propelling Microparticles at Long Range by Using an Entirely Stripped and Slightly Tapered No-Core Optical Fiber

    PubMed Central

    Sheu, Fang-Wen; Huang, Yen-Si

    2013-01-01

    A stripped no-core optical fiber with a 125 μm diameter was transformed into a symmetric and unbroken optical fiber that tapers slightly to a 45-μm-diameter waist. The laser light can be easily launched into the no-core optical fiber. The enhanced evanescent wave of the slightly tapered no-core optical fiber can attract nearby 5-μm-diameter polystyrene microparticles onto the surface of the tapered multimode optical fiber within fast flowing fluid and propel the trapped particles in the direction of the light propagation to longer delivery range than is possible using a slightly tapered telecom single-mode optical fiber. PMID:23449118

  6. Chemical tapering of polymer optical fiber

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rashid, Affa Rozana Abdul; Afiqah Nasution, Amna; Hanim Suranin, Aisyah; Athirah Taib, Nur; Maisarah Mukhtar, Wan; Dasuki, Karsono Ahmad; Annuar Ehsan, Abang

    2017-11-01

    Polymer optical fibers (POFs) have significant advantages over numerous sensing applications. The key element in developing sensor is by removing the cladding of the fiber. The use of organic solvent is one of the methods to create tapered POF in order to expose the core region. In this study, the etching chemicals involved is acetone, methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK), and acetone-methanol mixture. The POF is immersed in 100%, 80%, and 50% of acetone and MIBK dilution. In addition, the mixture of acetone and methanol is also used for POF etching by the ratio 2:1 of the volume. Acetone has shown to be the most reactive solvent towards POF due to its fastest etching rate compared to MIBK and acetone-methanol mixture. The POF is immersed and lifted from the solution for a specific time, depending on the power loss properties for the purpose of producing unclad POF. In comparison to silica fiber optic, the advantages of POF in terms of its simple technique and easy handling enable it to produce unclad POF without damaging the core region. The surface roughness of the POF is investigated under the microscope after being immersed into different solvent. This method of chemical tapering of POF can be used as the fundamental technique for sensor development. Next, the unclad fiber is immersed into ethanol solutions in order to determine the reaction of unclad POF towards its surrounding. The findings show that this particular sensor is sensitive towards concentration changes ranging between 10 wt% to 50 wt%.

  7. Asymmetrical dual tapered fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer for fiber-optic directional tilt sensor.

    PubMed

    Lee, Cheng-Ling; Shih, Wen-Cheng; Hsu, Jui-Ming; Horng, Jing-Shyang

    2014-10-06

    This work proposes a novel, highly sensitive and directional fiber tilt sensor that is based on an asymmetrical dual tapered fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer (ADTFMZI). The fiber-optic tilt sensor consists of two abrupt tapers with different tapered waists into which are incorporated a set of iron spheres to generate an asymmetrical strain in the ADTFMZI that is correlated with the tilt angle and the direction of inclination. Owing to the asymmetrical structure of the dual tapers, the proposed sensor can detect the non-horizontal/horizontal state of a structure and whether the test structure is tilted to clockwise or counterclockwise by measuring the spectral responses. Experimental results show that the spectral wavelengths are blue-shifted and red-shifted when the sensor tilts to clockwise (-θ) and counterclockwise ( + θ), respectively. Tilt angle sensitivities of about 335 pm/deg. and 125 pm/deg. are achieved in the -θ and + θ directions, respectively, when the proposed sensing scheme is utilized.

  8. FIBER-OPTIC BIOSENSOR FOR DIRECT DETERMINATION OF ORGANOPHOSPHATE NERVE AGENTS. (R823663)

    EPA Science Inventory

    A fiber-optic enzyme biosensor for the direct measurement of organophosphate nerve
    agents was developed. The basic element of this biosensor is organophosphorus hydrolase
    immobilized on a nylon membrane and attached to the common end of a bifurcated optical fiber
    bundle....

  9. Ultra-low-loss tapered optical fibers with minimal lengths

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nagai, Ryutaro; Aoki, Takao

    2014-11-01

    We design and fabricate ultra-low-loss tapered optical fibers (TOFs) with minimal lengths. We first optimize variations of the torch scan length using the flame-brush method for fabricating TOFs with taper angles that satisfy the adiabaticity criteria. We accordingly fabricate TOFs with optimal shapes and compare their transmission to TOFs with a constant taper angle and TOFs with an exponential shape. The highest transmission measured for TOFs with an optimal shape is in excess of 99.7 % with a total TOF length of only 23 mm, whereas TOFs with a constant taper angle of 2 mrad reach 99.6 % transmission for a 63 mm TOF length.

  10. Near-field fluorescence thermometry using highly efficient triple-tapered near-field optical fiber probe.

    PubMed

    Fujii, T; Taguchi, Y; Saiki, T; Nagasaka, Y

    2012-12-01

    A novel local temperature measurement method using fluorescence near-field optics thermal nanoscopy (Fluor-NOTN) has been developed. Fluor-NOTN enables nanoscale temperature measurement in situ by detecting the temperature-dependent fluorescence lifetime of CdSe quantum dots (QDs). In this paper, we report a novel triple-tapered near-field optical fiber probe that can increase the temperature measurement sensitivity of Fluor-NOTN. The performance of the proposed probe was numerically evaluated by the finite difference time domain method. Due to improvements in both the throughput and collection efficiency of near-field light, the sensitivity of the proposed probe was 1.9 times greater than that of typical double-tapered probe. The proposed shape of the triple-tapered core was successfully fabricated utilizing a geometrical model. The detected signal intensity of dried layers of QDs was greater by more than two orders than that of auto-fluorescence from the fiber core. In addition, the near-field fluorescence lifetime of the QDs and its temperature dependence were successfully measured by the fabricated triple-tapered near-field optical fiber probe. These measurement results verified the capability of the proposed triple-tapered near-field optical fiber probe to improve the collection efficiency of near-field fluorescence.

  11. Theoretical investigation for excitation light and fluorescence signal of fiber optical sensor using tapered fiber tip.

    PubMed

    Yuan, Yinquan; Ding, Liyun

    2011-10-24

    For fiber optical sensor made of tapered fiber tip, the effects of the geometrical parameters of tapered tip on two important factors have been investigated. One factor is the intensity of the evanescent wave into fluorescent layer through core-medium interface; the other is the intensity of fluorescence signal transmitted from fluorescent layer to measurement end. A dependence relation of the intensity of fluorescence signal transmitted from fluorescent layer to measurement end upon the geometrical parameters of tapered tip has been obtained. Theoretical results show that the intensity of the evanescent wave into fluorescent layer rises with the decrease of the end diameter of tapered tip, and the increase of the tip length; and the transmitted power of fluorescence signal increases linearly with the increase of the tip length due to the contribution of the side area of tapered tip. © 2011 Optical Society of America

  12. Applications of tapered flat silver halide fiber elements for infrared biospectroscopy with aspects of optical stability and biocompatibility

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Delbeck, Sven; Küpper, Lukas; Heise, Herbert M.

    2018-02-01

    Spectroscopic analysis of different biofluids and bodyfluid-like media has been realized by using tapered flat silver halide fiber elements as infrared biosensors. Optical stability and biocompatibility testing of the sensor elements have been performed with in-vitro samples under representative physiological conditions. After improving the reproducibility of manufacturing the sensor elements, the incoupling of radiation and the general handling including their chemical composition characterization, the fiber sensors were further optimized for the experiments. Stability tests in physiological solutions as well as porcine blood have shown that best results for biospectroscopic applications are available for the mid-IR fingerprint region, with the most stable behaviour as analyzed by the single-beam spectra. Despite several contrary reports, the silver halide material tested is toxic to cell lines chosen from the DIN standard specification for biocompatibility testing. Spectral changes as well as the results based on the DIN standard showed that pretreatment of the fibers is unavoidable to prevent direct contact of cells or human tissue and the silver halide material. Further applications of tapered flat silver halide fibers for the quantification of analytes in bodyfluids have also been tested by ensheathing the fiber-optic sensor element with a dialysis membrane. With the successfully produced prototype, results of diffusion rates and performance of a membrane-ensheathed fiber probe have been obtained. An invitro monitoring fiber sensor was developed aiming at the implantation of a microdialysis system for the analytical quantification of biomolecules such as glucose, lactate and others.

  13. Tapered GRIN fiber microsensor.

    PubMed

    Beltrán-Mejía, Felipe; Biazoli, Claudecir R; Cordeiro, Cristiano M B

    2014-12-15

    The sensitivity of an optical fiber microsensor based on inter-modal interference can be considerably improved by tapering a short extension of the multimode fiber. In the case of Graded Index fibers with a parabolic refractive index profile, a meridional ray exhibits a sinusoidal path. When these fibers are tapered, the period of the propagated beam decrease down-taper and increase up-taper. We take advantage of this modulation -along with the enhanced overlap between the evanescent field and the external medium- to substantially increase the sensitivity of these devices by tuning the sensor's maximum sensitivity wavelength. Moreover, the extension of this device is reduced by one order of magnitude, making it more propitious for reduced space applications. Numerical and experimental results demonstrate the success and feasibility of this approach.

  14. Tapered optical fiber tip probes based on focused ion beam-milled Fabry-Perot microcavities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    André, Ricardo M.; Warren-Smith, Stephen C.; Becker, Martin; Dellith, Jan; Rothhardt, Manfred; Zibaii, M. I.; Latifi, H.; Marques, Manuel B.; Bartelt, Hartmut; Frazão, Orlando

    2016-09-01

    Focused ion beam technology is combined with dynamic chemical etching to create microcavities in tapered optical fiber tips, resulting in fiber probes for temperature and refractive index sensing. Dynamic chemical etching uses hydrofluoric acid and a syringe pump to etch standard optical fibers into cone structures called tapered fiber tips where the length, shape, and cone angle can be precisely controlled. On these tips, focused ion beam is used to mill several different types of Fabry-Perot microcavities. Two main cavity types are initially compared and then combined to form a third, complex cavity structure. In the first case, a gap is milled on the tapered fiber tip which allows the external medium to penetrate the light guiding region and thus presents sensitivity to external refractive index changes. In the second, two slots that function as mirrors are milled on the tip creating a silica cavity that is only sensitive to temperature changes. Finally, both cavities are combined on a single tapered fiber tip, resulting in a multi-cavity structure capable of discriminating between temperature and refractive index variations. This dual characterization is performed with the aid of a fast Fourier transform method to separate the contributions of each cavity and thus of temperature and refractive index. Ultimately, a tapered optical fiber tip probe with sub-standard dimensions containing a multi-cavity structure is projected, fabricated, characterized and applied as a sensing element for simultaneous temperature and refractive index discrimination.

  15. Development of combination tapered fiber-optic biosensor dip probe for quantitative estimation of interleukin-6 in serum samples

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Chun Wei; Manne, Upender; Reddy, Vishnu B.; Oelschlager, Denise K.; Katkoori, Venkat R.; Grizzle, William E.; Kapoor, Rakesh

    2010-11-01

    A combination tapered fiber-optic biosensor (CTFOB) dip probe for rapid and cost-effective quantification of proteins in serum samples has been developed. This device relies on diode laser excitation and a charged-coupled device spectrometer and functions on a technique of sandwich immunoassay. As a proof of principle, this technique was applied in a quantitative estimation of interleukin IL-6. The probes detected IL-6 at picomolar levels in serum samples obtained from a patient with lupus, an autoimmune disease, and a patient with lymphoma. The estimated concentration of IL-6 in the lupus sample was 5.9 +/- 0.6 pM, and in the lymphoma sample, it was below the detection limit. These concentrations were verified by a procedure involving bead-based xMAP technology. A similar trend in the concentrations was observed. The specificity of the CTFOB dip probes was assessed by analysis with receiver operating characteristics. This analysis suggests that the dip probes can detect 5-pM or higher concentration of IL-6 in these samples with specificities of 100%. The results provide information for guiding further studies in the utilization of these probes to quantify other analytes in body fluids with high specificity and sensitivity.

  16. Design and application of fiber optic evanescent wave biosensor

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huang, Huijie; Zhai, Junhui; Zhao, Yongkai; Yang, Ruifu; Ren, Bingqiang; Cheng, Zhaogu; Du, Longlong; Lu, Dunwu

    2003-12-01

    A fiber-optic biosensor is developed based on the principle of evanescent wave while light propagates in optical fiber. The biosensor uses a red laser diode at 636.85 nm for exciting Cy5 fluorescent dye. Sensitivity limit of 0.01 nnmol/l is obtained from the detection of serial Cy5 solutions with various concentrations. In log-to-log plot, excellent linear response characteristic is seen in the Cy5 concentrations ranging from 0.01 nmlo/l to 100 nmol/l. And a good result of signal-to-noise ratio of 4.61 is obtained when the biosensor is used to measure Legionella pneumophila solution of 0.01 μmol/l. All the results are comparable with those that are obtained by a commercial biochip scanner GeneTAC 1000.

  17. Vibration sensitivity of the scanning near-field optical microscope with a tapered optical fiber probe.

    PubMed

    Chang, Win-Jin; Fang, Te-Hua; Lee, Haw-Long; Yang, Yu-Ching

    2005-01-01

    In this paper the Rayleigh-Ritz method was used to study the scanning near-field optical microscope (SNOM) with a tapered optical fiber probe's flexural and axial sensitivity to vibration. Not only the contact stiffness but also the geometric parameters of the probe can influence the flexural and axial sensitivity to vibration. According to the analysis, the lateral and axial contact stiffness had a significant effect on the sensitivity of vibration of the SNOM's probe, each mode had a different level of sensitivity and in the first mode the tapered optical fiber probe was the most acceptive to higher levels of flexural and axial vibration. Generally, when the contact stiffness was lower, the tapered probe was more sensitive to higher levels of both axial and flexural vibration than the uniform probe. However, the situation was reversed when the contact stiffness was larger. Furthermore, the effect that the probe's length and its tapered angle had on the SNOM's probe axial and flexural vibration were significant and these two conditions should be incorporated into the design of new SNOM probes.

  18. Dynamic illumination of spatially restricted or large brain volumes via a single tapered optical fiber

    PubMed Central

    Pisanello, Marco; Oldenburg, Ian A.; Sileo, Leonardo; Markowitz, Jeffrey E.; Peterson, Ralph E.; Della Patria, Andrea; Haynes, Trevor M.; Emara, Mohamed S.; Spagnolo, Barbara; Datta, Sandeep Robert; De Vittorio, Massimo; Sabatini, Bernardo L.

    2017-01-01

    Optogenetics promises spatiotemporal precise control of neural processes using light. However, the spatial extent of illumination within the brain is difficult to control and cannot be adjusted using standard fiber optics. We demonstrate that optical fibers with tapered tips can be used to illuminate either spatially restricted or large brain volumes. Remotely adjusting the light input angle to the fiber varies the light-emitting portion of the taper over several millimeters without movement of the implant. We use this mode to activate dorsal versus ventral striatum of individual mice and reveal different effects of each manipulation on motor behavior. Conversely, injecting light over the full numerical aperture of the fiber results in light emission from the entire taper surface, achieving broader and more efficient optogenetic activation of neurons when compared to the standard flat-faced fiber stimulation. Thus, tapered fibers permit focal or broad illumination that can be precisely and dynamically matched to experimental needs. PMID:28628101

  19. Dynamic illumination of spatially restricted or large brain volumes via a single tapered optical fiber.

    PubMed

    Pisanello, Ferruccio; Mandelbaum, Gil; Pisanello, Marco; Oldenburg, Ian A; Sileo, Leonardo; Markowitz, Jeffrey E; Peterson, Ralph E; Della Patria, Andrea; Haynes, Trevor M; Emara, Mohamed S; Spagnolo, Barbara; Datta, Sandeep Robert; De Vittorio, Massimo; Sabatini, Bernardo L

    2017-08-01

    Optogenetics promises precise spatiotemporal control of neural processes using light. However, the spatial extent of illumination within the brain is difficult to control and cannot be adjusted using standard fiber optics. We demonstrate that optical fibers with tapered tips can be used to illuminate either spatially restricted or large brain volumes. Remotely adjusting the light input angle to the fiber varies the light-emitting portion of the taper over several millimeters without movement of the implant. We use this mode to activate dorsal versus ventral striatum of individual mice and reveal different effects of each manipulation on motor behavior. Conversely, injecting light over the full numerical aperture of the fiber results in light emission from the entire taper surface, achieving broader and more efficient optogenetic activation of neurons, compared to standard flat-faced fiber stimulation. Thus, tapered fibers permit focal or broad illumination that can be precisely and dynamically matched to experimental needs.

  20. Design and optimization of broadband tapered optical fibers with a nanofiber waist.

    PubMed

    Stiebeiner, Ariane; Garcia-Fernandez, Ruth; Rauschenbeutel, Arno

    2010-10-25

    The control over the transmission properties of tapered optical fibers (TOFs) is an important requirement for a whole range of applications. Using a carefully designed flame pulling process that allows us to realize preset fiber radius profiles, we fabricate TOFs with a nanofiber waist. We study the spectral transmission properties of these TOFs as a function of the taper profile and the waist length and show how the transmission band of the TOF can be tuned via different fiber profile parameters. Based on these results, we have designed a nanofiber-waist TOF with broadband transmission for surface spectroscopy of organic molecules. Moreover, our method allows us to analyze the loss mechanisms of optical nanofibers.

  1. Enhancing sensitivity of biconical tapered fiber sensors with multiple passes through the taper

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cohoon, Gregory; Boyter, Chris; Errico, Michael; Vandervoort, Kurt; Salik, Ertan

    2010-03-01

    A single biconical fiber taper is a simple and low-cost yet powerful sensor. With a distinct strength in refractive index (RI) sensing, biconical tapered fiber sensors can find their place in handheld sensor platforms, especially as biosensors that are greatly needed in health care, environmental protection, food safety, and biodefense. We report doubling of sensitivity for these sensors with two passes through the tapered region, which becomes possible through the use of sensitive and high-dynamic-range photodetectors. In a proof-of-principle experiment, we measured transmission through the taper when it was immersed in isopropyl alcohol-water mixtures of varying concentrations, in which a thin gold layer at the tip of the fiber acted as a mirror enabling two passes through the tapered region. This improved the sensitivity from 0.43 dB/vol % in the single-pass case to 0.78 dB/vol % with two passes through the taper. The refractive index detection limit was estimated to be ~1.2×10-5 RI units (RIU) and ~0.6×10-5 RIU in the single- and double-pass schemes, respectively. We predict that further enhancement of sensitivity may be achieved with a higher number of passes through the taper.

  2. Toxin detection using a fiber-optic-based biosensor

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ogert, Robert A.; Shriver-Lake, Lisa C.; Ligler, Frances S.

    1993-05-01

    Using an evanescent wave fiber optic-based biosensor developed at Naval Research Laboratory, ricin toxin can be detected in the low ng/ml range. Sensitivity was established at 1 - 5 ng/ml using a two-step assay. The two-step assay showed enhanced signal levels in comparison to a one-step assay. A two-step assay utilizes a 10 minute incubation of an immobilized affinity purified anti-ricin antibody fiber optic probe in the ricin sample before placement in a solution of fluorophore-labeled goat anti-ricin antibodies. The specific fluorescent signal is obtained by the binding of the fluorophore-labeled antibodies to ricin which is bound by the immobilized antibodies on the fiber optic probe. The toxin can be detected directly from urine and river water using this fiber optic assay.

  3. Plasmonic structure: fiber grating formed by gold nanorods on a tapered fiber.

    PubMed

    Trevisanutto, J O; Linhananta, A; Das, G

    2016-12-15

    The authors demonstrated the fabrication of a fiber Bragg grating-like plasmonic nanostructure on the surface of a tapered optical fiber using gold nanorods (GNRs). A multimode optical fiber with core and cladding diameters of 105 and 125 μm, respectively, was used to make a tapered fiber using a dynamic etching process. The tip diameter was ∼100  nm. Light from a laser was coupled to the untapered end of the fiber, which produced a strong evanescent field around the tapered section of the fiber. The gradient force due to the evanescent field trapped the GNRs on the surface of the tapered fiber. The authors explored possible causes of the GNR distribution. The plasmonic structure will be a good candidate for sensing based on surface enhanced Raman scattering.

  4. Brillouin lasing in single-mode tapered optical fiber with inscribed fiber Bragg grating array

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Popov, S. M.; Butov, O. V.; Chamorovskiy, Y. K.; Isaev, V. A.; Kolosovskiy, A. O.; Voloshin, V. V.; Vorob'ev, I. L.; Vyatkin, M. Yu.; Mégret, P.; Odnoblyudov, M.; Korobko, D. A.; Zolotovskii, I. O.; Fotiadi, A. A.

    2018-06-01

    A tapered optical fiber has been manufactured with an array of fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) inscribed during the drawing process. The total fiber peak reflectivity is 5% and the reflection bandwidth is ∼3.5 nm. A coherent frequency domain reflectometry has been applied for precise profiling of the fiber core diameter and grating reflectivity both distributed along the whole fiber length. These measurements are in a good agreement with the specific features of Brillouin lasing achieved in the semi-open fiber cavity configuration.

  5. Pathogen detection using evanescent-wave fiber optic biosensor

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ferreira, Aldo P.; Werneck, Marcelo M.; Ribeiro, R. M.; Lins, U. G.

    1999-07-01

    This paper describes a real time optical biosensor that utilizes the evanescent field technique for monitoring microorganisms in hospital environment. The biosensor monitors interactions between the analytic (bacteria) and the evanescent field of an optical fiber passing through the culture media where the bacteria grows. The objective is to monitor atmospheres in hospital areas for the Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumonia. The results lead us the conclusion that this kind of sensor presents quick response, good performance, easy of construction and low cost. We expect that the sensor will be of great help in controlling the hospital environment.

  6. In-situ Tapering of Chalcogenide Fiber for Mid-infrared Supercontinuum Generation

    PubMed Central

    Rudy, Charles W.; Marandi, Alireza; Vodopyanov, Konstantin L.; Byer, Robert L.

    2013-01-01

    Supercontinuum generation (SCG) in a tapered chalcogenide fiber is desirable for broadening mid-infrared (or mid-IR, roughly the 2-20 μm wavelength range) frequency combs1, 2 for applications such as molecular fingerprinting, 3 trace gas detection, 4 laser-driven particle acceleration, 5 and x-ray production via high harmonic generation. 6 Achieving efficient SCG in a tapered optical fiber requires precise control of the group velocity dispersion (GVD) and the temporal properties of the optical pulses at the beginning of the fiber, 7 which depend strongly on the geometry of the taper. 8 Due to variations in the tapering setup and procedure for successive SCG experiments-such as fiber length, tapering environment temperature, or power coupled into the fiber, in-situ spectral monitoring of the SCG is necessary to optimize the output spectrum for a single experiment. In-situ fiber tapering for SCG consists of coupling the pump source through the fiber to be tapered to a spectral measurement device. The fiber is then tapered while the spectral measurement signal is observed in real-time. When the signal reaches its peak, the tapering is stopped. The in-situ tapering procedure allows for generation of a stable, octave-spanning, mid-IR frequency comb from the sub harmonic of a commercially available near-IR frequency comb. 9 This method lowers cost due to the reduction in time and materials required to fabricate an optimal taper with a waist length of only 2 mm. The in-situ tapering technique can be extended to optimizing microstructured optical fiber (MOF) for SCG10 or tuning of the passband of MOFs, 11 optimizing tapered fiber pairs for fused fiber couplers12 and wavelength division multiplexers (WDMs), 13 or modifying dispersion compensation for compression or stretching of optical pulses.14-16 PMID:23748947

  7. Dynamic response of tapered optical multimode fiber coated with carbon nanotubes for ethanol sensing application.

    PubMed

    Shabaneh, Arafat; Girei, Saad; Arasu, Punitha; Mahdi, Mohd; Rashid, Suraya; Paiman, Suriati; Yaacob, Mohd

    2015-05-04

    Ethanol is a highly combustible chemical universally designed for biomedical applications. In this paper, optical sensing performance of tapered multimode fiber tip coated with carbon nanotube (CNT) thin film towards aqueous ethanol with different concentrations is investigated. The tapered optical multimode fiber tip is coated with CNT using drop-casting technique and is annealed at 70 °C to enhance the binding of the nanomaterial to the silica fiber tip. The optical fiber tip and the CNT sensing layer are micro-characterized using FESEM and Raman spectroscopy techniques. When the developed sensor was exposed to different concentrations of ethanol (5% to 80%), the sensor reflectance reduced proportionally. The developed sensors showed high sensitivity, repeatability and fast responses (<55 s) towards ethanol.

  8. Dynamic Response of Tapered Optical Multimode Fiber Coated with Carbon Nanotubes for Ethanol Sensing Application

    PubMed Central

    Shabaneh, Arafat; Girei, Saad; Arasu, Punitha; Mahdi, Mohd; Rashid, Suraya; Paiman, Suriati; Yaacob, Mohd

    2015-01-01

    Ethanol is a highly combustible chemical universally designed for biomedical applications. In this paper, optical sensing performance of tapered multimode fiber tip coated with carbon nanotube (CNT) thin film towards aqueous ethanol with different concentrations is investigated. The tapered optical multimode fiber tip is coated with CNT using drop-casting technique and is annealed at 70 °C to enhance the binding of the nanomaterial to the silica fiber tip. The optical fiber tip and the CNT sensing layer are micro-characterized using FESEM and Raman spectroscopy techniques. When the developed sensor was exposed to different concentrations of ethanol (5% to 80%), the sensor reflectance reduced proportionally. The developed sensors showed high sensitivity, repeatability and fast responses (<55 s) towards ethanol. PMID:25946634

  9. Narrowband spectral filter based on biconical tapered fiber

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Celaschi, Sergio; Malheiros-Silveira, Gilliard N.

    2018-02-01

    The ease of fabrication and compactness of devices based on tapered optical fibers contribute to its potential using in several applications ranging from telecommunication components to sensing devices. In this work, we proposed, fabricated, and characterized a spectral filter made of biconical taper from a coaxial optical fiber. This filter is defined by adiabatically tapering a depressed-cladding fiber. The adiabatic taper profile obtained during fabrication prevents the interference of other modes than HE11 and HE12 ones, which play the main role for the beating phenomenon and the filter response. The evolution of the fiber shapes during the pulling was modeled by two coupled partial differential equations, which relate the normalized cross-section area, and the axial velocity of the fiber elongation. These equations govern the mass and axial momentum conservation. The numerical results of the filter characteristics are in good accordance with the experimental ones. The filter was packaged in order to let it ready for using in optical communication bands. The characteristics are: free spectral range (FSR) of 6.19 nm, insertion loss bellow 0.5 dB, and isolation > 20 dB at C-band. Its transmission spectrum extends from 1200 to 1600 nm where the optical fiber core supports monomode transmission. Such characteristics may also be interesting to be applied in sensing applications. We show preliminary numerical results assuming a biconic taper embedded into a dielectric media, showing promising results for electro-optic sensing applications.

  10. A Review of Multimode Interference in Tapered Optical Fibers and Related Applications.

    PubMed

    Wang, Pengfei; Zhao, Haiyan; Wang, Xianfan; Farrell, Gerald; Brambilla, Gilberto

    2018-03-14

    In recent years, tapered optical fibers (TOFs) have attracted increasing interest and developed into a range of devices used in many practical applications ranging from optical communication, sensing to optical manipulation and high-Q resonators. Compared with conventional optical fibers, TOFs possess a range of unique features, such as large evanescent field, strong optical confinement, mechanical flexibility and compactness. In this review, we critically summarize the multimode interference in TOFs and some of its applications with a focus on our research project undertaken at the Optoelectronics Research Centre of the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom.

  11. A Review of Multimode Interference in Tapered Optical Fibers and Related Applications

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Pengfei; Zhao, Haiyan; Wang, Xianfan; Brambilla, Gilberto

    2018-01-01

    In recent years, tapered optical fibers (TOFs) have attracted increasing interest and developed into a range of devices used in many practical applications ranging from optical communication, sensing to optical manipulation and high-Q resonators. Compared with conventional optical fibers, TOFs possess a range of unique features, such as large evanescent field, strong optical confinement, mechanical flexibility and compactness. In this review, we critically summarize the multimode interference in TOFs and some of its applications with a focus on our research project undertaken at the Optoelectronics Research Centre of the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom. PMID:29538333

  12. Improved vibration sensor based on a biconical tapered singlemode fiber, using in-fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wonko, R.; Moś, J. E.; Stasiewicz, K. A.; Jaroszewicz, L. R.

    2017-05-01

    Optical fiber vibration sensors are an appropriate alternative for piezoelectric devices, which are electromagnetic sensitive to the external conditions. Most of the vibration sensors demonstrated in previous publications resist to different interferometers or Bragg's gratings. Such sensors require a long time of stabilization of an optical signal, because they are vulnerable to undesirable disturbance. In majority, time response of an optical sensor should be instantaneous, therefore we have proposed an in- line vibration sensing passive element based on a tapered fiber. Micrometer sized optical fiber tapers are attractive for many optical areas due to changes process of boundary conditions. Such phenomena allow for a sensitive detection of the modulation phase. Our experiment shows that a singlemode, adiabatic tapered fiber enables detecting an acoustic vibration. In this study, we report on Mach- Zehnder (MZ) interferometer as a vibration sensor which was composed of two 50/50 couplers at 1550 nm. In the reference arm we used a 4 meter singlemode optical fiber (SMF28), while in the arm under test we placed tapered optical fibers attached to a metal plate, put directly on speaker. Researches carried out on different tapered fibers which diameter of a taper waist was in the range from 5 μm to 25 μm, and each taper was characterized by optical losses less than 0,5 dB. The measured phase changes were over a frequency from 100 Hz to 1 kHz and an amplitude in the range from 100 mVpp to 1 Vpp. Although on account of a limited space we have showed only the results for 100 Hz. Nevertheless, experimental results show that this sensing system has a wide frequency response range from a few hertz to one of kilohertz, however for some conditions, a standard optical fiber showed better result.

  13. U-bent plastic optical fiber based plasmonic biosensor for nucleic acid detection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gowri, A.; Sai, V. V. R.

    2017-05-01

    This study presents the development of low cost, rapid and highly sensitive plasmonic sandwich DNA biosensor using U-bent plastic optical fiber (POF) probes with high evanescent wave absorbance sensitivity and gold nanoparticles (AuNP) as labels. Plastic optical fiber (PMMA core and fluorinated polymer as cladding) offer ease in machinability and handling due to which optimum U-bent geometry (with fiber and bend diameter of 0.5 and 1.5 mm respectively) for high sensitivity could be achieved. A sensitive fiber optic DNA biosensor is realized by (i) modifying the PMMA surface using ethylenediamine (EDA) in order to maximize the immobilization of capture oligonucleotides (ONs) and (ii) conjugating probe ONs to AuNP labels of optimum size ( 35 nm) with high extinction coefficient and optimal ON surface density. The sandwich hybridization assay on U-bent POF probes results in increase in optical absorbance through the probe with increase in target ON concentration due to the presence of increased number of AuNPs. The absorbance of light passing through the U-bent probe due to the presence of AuNP labels on its surface as result of sandwich DNA hybridization is measured using a halogen lamp and a fiber optic spectrometer. A picomolar limit of detection of target ON (0.2 pM or 1 pg/ml or 5 attomol in 25 μL) is achieved with this biosensing scheme, indicating its potential for the development of a highly sensitive DNA biosensor.

  14. Adaptable Optical Fiber Displacement-Curvature Sensor Based on a Modal Michelson Interferometer with a Tapered Single Mode Fiber

    PubMed Central

    Salceda-Delgado, G.; Martinez-Rios, A.; Selvas-Aguilar, R.; Álvarez-Tamayo, R. I.; Castillo-Guzman, A.; Ibarra-Escamilla, B.; Durán-Ramírez, V. M.; Enriquez-Gomez, L. F.

    2017-01-01

    A compact, highly sensitive optical fiber displacement and curvature radius sensor is presented. The device consists of an adiabatic bi-conical fused fiber taper spliced to a single-mode fiber (SMF) segment with a flat face end. The bi-conical taper structure acts as a modal coupling device between core and cladding modes for the SMF segment. When the bi-conical taper is bent by an axial displacement, the symmetrical bi-conical shape of the tapered structure is stressed, causing a change in the refractive index profile which becomes asymmetric. As a result, the taper adiabaticity is lost, and interference between modes appears. As the bending increases, a small change in the fringe visibility and a wavelength shift on the periodical reflection spectrum of the in-fiber interferometer is produced. The displacement sensitivity and the spectral periodicity of the device can be adjusted by the proper selection of the SMF length. Sensitivities from around 1.93 to 3.4 nm/mm were obtained for SMF length between 7.5 and 12.5 cm. Both sensor interrogations, wavelength shift and visibility contrast, can be used to measure displacement and curvature radius magnitudes. PMID:28574421

  15. Adaptable Optical Fiber Displacement-Curvature Sensor Based on a Modal Michelson Interferometer with a Tapered Single Mode Fiber.

    PubMed

    Salceda-Delgado, G; Martinez-Rios, A; Selvas-Aguilar, R; Álvarez-Tamayo, R I; Castillo-Guzman, A; Ibarra-Escamilla, B; Durán-Ramírez, V M; Enriquez-Gomez, L F

    2017-06-02

    A compact, highly sensitive optical fiber displacement and curvature radius sensor is presented. The device consists of an adiabatic bi-conical fused fiber taper spliced to a single-mode fiber (SMF) segment with a flat face end. The bi-conical taper structure acts as a modal coupling device between core and cladding modes for the SMF segment. When the bi-conical taper is bent by an axial displacement, the symmetrical bi-conical shape of the tapered structure is stressed, causing a change in the refractive index profile which becomes asymmetric. As a result, the taper adiabaticity is lost, and interference between modes appears. As the bending increases, a small change in the fringe visibility and a wavelength shift on the periodical reflection spectrum of the in-fiber interferometer is produced. The displacement sensitivity and the spectral periodicity of the device can be adjusted by the proper selection of the SMF length. Sensitivities from around 1.93 to 3.4 nm/mm were obtained for SMF length between 7.5 and 12.5 cm. Both sensor interrogations, wavelength shift and visibility contrast, can be used to measure displacement and curvature radius magnitudes.

  16. Research on dual-parameter optical fiber sensor based on few-mode fiber with two down-tapers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Xue; Tong, Zhengrong; Zhang, Weihua; Xue, Lifang

    2017-10-01

    A dual-parameter optical fiber sensor, which is fabricated by sandwiching a segment of few-mode fiber (FMF) with two down-tapers between two segments of standard single-mode fibers (SMFs), is investigated theoretically and experimentally. The two down-tapers on the FMF can enhance the evanescent field, making the sensor more sensitive to changes in the external environment. The refractive index (RI) and temperature are measured simultaneously using the different sensitivities of the two dips in this experimental interference spectrum. The measured temperature sensitivities are 0.097 and 0.114 nm/°C, and the RI sensitivities are -97.43 and -108.07 nm/RIU, respectively. Meanwhile, the simple SMF-FMF-SMF structure is also measured. By comparing the experimental results of the two structures, the sensitivities of the proposed structure based on the dual-taper FMF are significantly improved. In addition, the sensor is easy to fabricate and cost effective.

  17. High density array fabrication and readout method for a fiber optic biosensor

    DOEpatents

    Pinkel, Daniel; Gray, Joe

    1997-01-01

    The invention relates to the fabrication and use of biosensors comprising a plurality of optical fibers each fiber having attached to its "sensor end" biological "binding partners" (molecules that specifically bind other molecules to form a binding complex such as antibody-antigen, lectin-carbohydrate, nucleic acid-nucleic acid, biotin-avidin, etc.). The biosensor preferably bears two or more different species of biological binding partner. The sensor is fabricated by providing a plurality of groups of optical fibers. Each group is treated as a batch to attach a different species of biological binding partner to the sensor ends of the fibers comprising that bundle. Each fiber, or group of fibers within a bundle, may be uniquely identified so that the fibers, or group of fibers, when later combined in an array of different fibers, can be discretely addressed. Fibers or groups of fibers are then selected and discretely separated from different bundles. The discretely separated fibers are then combined at their sensor ends to produce a high density sensor array of fibers capable of assaying simultaneously the binding of components of a test sample to the various binding partners on the different fibers of the sensor array. The transmission ends of the optical fibers are then discretely addressed to detectors--such as a multiplicity of optical sensors. An optical signal, produced by binding of the binding partner to its substrate to form a binding complex, is conducted through the optical fiber or group of fibers to a detector for each discrete test. By examining the addressed transmission ends of fibers, or groups of fibers, the addressed transmission ends can transmit unique patterns assisting in rapid sample identification by the sensor.

  18. High density array fabrication and readout method for a fiber optic biosensor

    DOEpatents

    Pinkel, Daniel; Gray, Joe; Albertson, Donna G.

    2000-01-01

    The invention relates to the fabrication and use of biosensors comprising a plurality of optical fibers each fiber having attached to its "sensor end" biological "binding partners" (molecules that specifically bind other molecules to form a binding complex such as antibody-antigen, lectin-carbohydrate, nucleic acid-nucleic acid, biotin-avidin, etc.). The biosensor preferably bears two or more different species of biological binding partner. The sensor is fabricated by providing a plurality of groups of optical fibers. Each group is treated as a batch to attach a different species of biological binding partner to the sensor ends of the fibers comprising that bundle. Each fiber, or group of fibers within a bundle, may be uniquely identified so that the fibers, or group of fibers, when later combined in an array of different fibers, can be discretely addressed. Fibers or groups of fibers are then selected and discretely separated from different bundles. The discretely separated fibers are then combined at their sensor ends to produce a high density sensor array of fibers capable of assaying simultaneously the binding of components of a test sample to the various binding partners on the different fibers of the sensor array. The transmission ends of the optical fibers are then discretely addressed to detectors--such as a multiplicity of optical sensors. An optical signal, produced by binding of the binding partner to its substrate to form a binding complex, is conducted through the optical fiber or group of fibers to a detector for each discrete test. By examining the addressed transmission ends of fibers, or groups of fibers, the addressed transmission ends can transmit unique patterns assisting in rapid sample identification by the sensor.

  19. High density array fabrication and readout method for a fiber optic biosensor

    DOEpatents

    Pinkel, Daniel; Gray, Joe; Albertson, Donna G.

    2002-01-01

    The invention relates to the fabrication and use of biosensors comprising a plurality of optical fibers each fiber having attached to its "sensor end" biological "binding partners" (molecules that specifically bind other molecules to form a binding complex such as antibody-antigen, lectin-carbohydrate, nucleic acid-nucleic acid, biotin-avidin, etc.). The biosensor preferably bears two or more different species of biological binding partner. The sensor is fabricated by providing a plurality of groups of optical fibers. Each group is treated as a batch to attach a different species of biological binding partner to the sensor ends of the fibers comprising that bundle. Each fiber, or group of fibers within a bundle, may be uniquely identified so that the fibers, or group of fibers, when later combined in an array of different fibers, can be discretely addressed. Fibers or groups of fibers are then selected and discretely separated from different bundles. The discretely separated fibers are then combined at their sensor ends to produce a high density sensor array of fibers capable of assaying simultaneously the binding of components of a test sample to the various binding partners on the different fibers of the sensor array. The transmission ends of the optical fibers are then discretely addressed to detectors--such as a multiplicity of optical sensors. An optical signal, produced by binding of the binding partner to its substrate to form a binding complex, is conducted through the optical fiber or group of fibers to a detector for each discrete test. By examining the addressed transmission ends of fibers, or groups of fibers, the addressed transmission ends can transmit unique patterns assisting in rapid sample identification by the sensor.

  20. Soliton propagation in tapered silicon core fibers.

    PubMed

    Peacock, Anna C

    2010-11-01

    Numerical simulations are used to investigate soliton-like propagation in tapered silicon core optical fibers. The simulations are based on a realistic tapered structure with nanoscale core dimensions and a decreasing anomalous dispersion profile to compensate for the effects of linear and nonlinear loss. An intensity misfit parameter is used to establish the optimum taper dimensions that preserve the pulse shape while reducing temporal broadening. Soliton formation from Gaussian input pulses is also observed--further evidence of the potential for tapered silicon fibers to find use in a range of signal processing applications.

  1. Fabrication and application of a non-contact double-tapered optical fiber tweezers.

    PubMed

    Liu, Z L; Liu, Y X; Tang, Y; Zhang, N; Wu, F P; Zhang, B

    2017-09-18

    A double-tapered optical fiber tweezers (DOFTs) was fabricated by a chemical etching called interfacial layer etching. In this method, the second taper angle (STA) of DOFTs can be controlled easily by the interfacial layer etching time. Application of the DOFTs to the optical trapping of the yeast cells was presented. Effects of the STA on the axile trapping efficiency and the trapping position were investigated experimentally and theoretically. The experimental results are good agreement with the theoretical ones. The results demonstrated that the non-contact capture can be realized for the large STA (e.g. 90 deg) and there was an optimal axile trapping efficiency as the STA increasing. In order to obtain a more accurate measurement result of the trapping force, a correction factor to Stokes drag coefficient was introduced. This work provided a way of designing and fabricating an optical fiber tweezers (OFTs) with a high trapping efficient or a non-contact capture.

  2. Acrylic and metal based Y-branch plastic optical fiber splitter with optical NOA63 polymer waveguide taper region

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ehsan, Abang Annuar; Shaari, Sahbudin; Rahman, Mohd Kamil Abd.

    2011-01-01

    We proposed a simple low-cost acrylic and metal-based Y-branch plastic optical fiber (POF) splitter which utilizes a low cost optical polymer glue NOA63 as the main waveguiding medium at the waveguide taper region. The device is composed of three sections: an input POF waveguide, a middle waveguide taper region and output POF waveguides. A desktop high speed CNC engraver is utilized to produce the mold inserts used for the optical devices. Short POF fibers are inserted into the engraved slots at the input and output ports. UV curable optical polymer glue NOA63 is injected into the waveguide taper region and cured. The assembling is completed when the top plate is positioned to enclose the device structure and connecting screws are secured. Both POF splitters have an average insertion loss of 7.8 dB, coupling ratio of 55: 45 and 57: 43 for the acrylic and metal-based splitters respectively. The devices have excess loss of 4.82 and 4.73 dB for the acrylic and metal-based splitters respectively.

  3. Label-Free Detection of Cancer Biomarkers Using an In-Line Taper Fiber-Optic Interferometer and a Fiber Bragg Grating

    PubMed Central

    Sun, Dandan; Wang, Guanjun

    2017-01-01

    A compact and label-free optical fiber sensor based on a taper interferometer cascaded with a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated for detection of a breast cancer biomarker (HER2). The tapered fiber-optic interferometer is extremely sensitive to the ambient refractive index (RI). In addition, being insensitive to the RI variation, the FBG can be applied as a temperature thermometer due to its independent response to the temperature. Surface functionalization to the sensor is carried out to achieve specific targeting of the unlabeled biomarkers. The result shows that the proposed sensor presents a low limit-of-detection (LOD) of 2 ng/mL, enabling its potentials of application in early diagnosis on the breast cancer. PMID:29113127

  4. All-optical phase shifter and switch near 1550nm using tungsten disulfide (WS2) deposited tapered fiber.

    PubMed

    Wu, Kan; Guo, Chaoshi; Wang, Hao; Zhang, Xiaoyan; Wang, Jun; Chen, Jianping

    2017-07-24

    All-optical phase shifters and switches play an important role for various all-optical applications including all-optical signal processing, sensing and communication. In this paper, we demonstrate a fiber all-optical phase shifter using few-layer 2D material tungsten disulfide (WS 2 ) deposited on a tapered fiber. WS 2 absorbs injected 980 nm pump (control light) and generates heat, which changes the refractive index of both WS 2 and tapered fiber due to thermo-optic effect and achieves a maximum phase shift of 6.1π near 1550 nm. The device has a loss of 3.7 dB. By constructing a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with WS 2 based phase shifter in one arm, an all-optical switch is also obtained with an extinction ratio of 15 dB and a rise time of 7.3 ms. This all fiber low-cost and compact optical phase shifter and switch demonstrates the potential of 2D transition metal dichalcogenides for all-optical signal processing devices.

  5. Low-cost fused taper polymer optical fiber (LFT-POF) splitters for environmental and home-networking solution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Supian, L. S.; Ab-Rahman, Mohammad Syuhaimi; Harun, Mohd Hazwan; Gunab, Hadi; Sulaiman, Malik; Naim, Nani Fadzlina

    2017-08-01

    In visible optical communication over the multimode PMMA fibers, the overall cost of optical network can be reduced by deploying economical splitters for distributing the optical data signals from a point to multipoint in transmission network. The low-cost splitters shall have two main characteristics; good uniformity and high power efficiency. The most cost-effective and environmental friendly optical splitter having those characteristics have been developed. The device material is 100% purely based on the multimode step-index PMMA Polymer Optical Fiber (POF). The region which all fibers merged as single fiber is called as fused-taper POF. This ensures that all fibers are melted and fused properly. The results for uniformity and power efficiency of all splitters have been revealed by injecting red LED transmitter with 650 nm wavelength into input port while each end of output fibers measured by optical power meter. Final analysis shows our fused-taper splitter has low excess loss 0.53 dB and each of the output port has low insertion loss, which the average value is below 7 dB. In addition, the splitter has good uniformity that is 32:37:31% in which it is suitably used for demultiplexer fabrication.

  6. High density array fabrication and readout method for a fiber optic biosensor

    DOEpatents

    Pinkel, D.; Gray, J.

    1997-11-25

    The invention relates to the fabrication and use of biosensors comprising a plurality of optical fibers each fiber having attached to its ``sensor end`` biological ``binding partners`` (molecules that specifically bind other molecules to form a binding complex such as antibody-antigen, lectin-carbohydrate, nucleic acid-nucleic acid, biotin-avidin, etc.). The biosensor preferably bears two or more different species of biological binding partner. The sensor is fabricated by providing a plurality of groups of optical fibers. Each group is treated as a batch to attach a different species of biological binding partner to the sensor ends of the fibers comprising that bundle. Each fiber, or group of fibers within a bundle, may be uniquely identified so that the fibers, or group of fibers, when later combined in an array of different fibers, can be discretely addressed. Fibers or groups of fibers are then selected and discretely separated from different bundles. The discretely separated fibers are then combined at their sensor ends to produce a high density sensor array of fibers capable of assaying simultaneously the binding of components of a test sample to the various binding partners on the different fibers of the sensor array. The transmission ends of the optical fibers are then discretely addressed to detectors--such as a multiplicity of optical sensors. An optical signal, produced by binding of the binding partner to its substrate to form a binding complex, is conducted through the optical fiber or group of fibers to a detector for each discrete test. By examining the addressed transmission ends of fibers, or groups of fibers, the addressed transmission ends can transmit unique patterns assisting in rapid sample identification by the sensor. 9 figs.

  7. Large-aperture, tapered fiber-coupled, 10-kHz particle-image velocimetry.

    PubMed

    Hsu, Paul S; Roy, Sukesh; Jiang, Naibo; Gord, James R

    2013-02-11

    We demonstrate the design and implementation of a fiber-optic beam-delivery system using a large-aperture, tapered step-index fiber for high-speed particle-image velocimetry (PIV) in turbulent combustion flows. The tapered fiber in conjunction with a diffractive-optical-element (DOE) fiber-optic coupler significantly increases the damage threshold of the fiber, enabling fiber-optic beam delivery of sufficient nanosecond, 532-nm, laser pulse energy for high-speed PIV measurements. The fiber successfully transmits 1-kHz and 10-kHz laser pulses with energies of 5.3 mJ and 2 mJ, respectively, for more than 25 min without any indication of damage. It is experimentally demonstrated that the tapered fiber possesses the high coupling efficiency (~80%) and moderate beam quality for PIV. Additionally, the nearly uniform output-beam profile exiting the fiber is ideal for PIV applications. Comparative PIV measurements are made using a conventionally (bulk-optic) delivered light sheet, and a similar order of measurement accuracy is obtained with and without fiber coupling. Effective use of fiber-coupled, 10-kHz PIV is demonstrated for instantaneous 2D velocity-field measurements in turbulent reacting flows. Proof-of-concept measurements show significant promise for the performance of fiber-coupled, high-speed PIV using a tapered optical fiber in harsh laser-diagnostic environments such as those encountered in gas-turbine test beds and the cylinder of a combustion engine.

  8. All fiber magnetic field sensor with Ferrofluid-filled tapered microstructured optical fiber interferometer.

    PubMed

    Deng, Ming; Huang, Can; Liu, Danhui; Jin, Wei; Zhu, Tao

    2015-08-10

    An ultra-compact optical fiber magnetic field sensor based on a microstructured optical fiber (MOF) modal interference and ferrofluid (FF) has been proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The magnetic field sensor was fabricated by splicing a tapered germanium-doped index guided MOF with six big holes injected with FF to two conventional single-mode fibers. The transmission spectra of the proposed sensor under different magnetic field intensities have been measured and theoretically analyzed. Due to an efficient interaction between the magnetic nanoparticles in FF and the excited cladding mode, the magnetic field sensitivity reaches up to117.9pm/mT with a linear range from 0mT to 30mT. Moreover, the fabrication process of the proposed sensor is simple, easy and cost-effective. Therefore, it will be a promising candidate for military, aviation industry, and biomedical applications, especially, for the applications where the space is limited.

  9. High Sensitivity Refractometer Based on TiO₂-Coated Adiabatic Tapered Optical Fiber via ALD Technology.

    PubMed

    Zhu, Shan; Pang, Fufei; Huang, Sujuan; Zou, Fang; Guo, Qiang; Wen, Jianxiang; Wang, Tingyun

    2016-08-15

    Atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology is introduced to fabricate a high sensitivity refractometer based on an adiabatic tapered optical fiber. Different thicknesses of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanofilm were coated around the tapered fiber precisely and uniformly under different deposition cycles. Attributed to the higher refractive index of the TiO₂ nanofilm compared to that of silica, an asymmetric Fabry-Perot (F-P) resonator could be constructed along the fiber taper. The central wavelength of the F-P resonator could be controlled by adjusting the thickness of the TiO₂ nanofilm. Such a F-P resonator is sensitive to changes in the surrounding refractive index (SRI), which is utilized to realize a high sensitivity refractometer. The refractometer developed by depositing 50.9-nm-thickness TiO₂ on the tapered fiber shows SRI sensitivity as high as 7096 nm/RIU in the SRI range of 1.3373-1.3500. Due to TiO₂'s advantages of high refractive index, lack of toxicity, and good biocompatibility, this refractometer is expected to have wide applications in the biochemical sensing field.

  10. Tapered polysilicon core fibers for nonlinear photonics.

    PubMed

    Suhailin, Fariza H; Shen, Li; Healy, Noel; Xiao, Limin; Jones, Maxwell; Hawkins, Thomas; Ballato, John; Gibson, Ursula J; Peacock, Anna C

    2016-04-01

    We propose and demonstrate a novel approach to obtaining small-core polysilicon waveguides from the silicon fiber platform. The fibers were fabricated via a conventional drawing tower method and, subsequently, tapered down to achieve silicon core diameters of ∼1  μm, the smallest optical cores for this class of fiber to date. Characterization of the material properties have shown that the taper process helps to improve the local crystallinity of the silicon core, resulting in a significant reduction in the material loss. By exploiting the combination of small cores and low losses, these tapered fibers have enabled the first observation of nonlinear transmission within a polycrystalline silicon waveguide of any type. As the fiber drawing method is highly scalable, it opens a route for the development of low-cost and flexible nonlinear silicon photonic systems.

  11. Tapered Optical Fiber Probe Assembled with Plasmonic Nanostructures for Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Application.

    PubMed

    Huang, Zhulin; Lei, Xing; Liu, Ye; Wang, Zhiwei; Wang, Xiujuan; Wang, Zhaoming; Mao, Qinghe; Meng, Guowen

    2015-08-12

    Optical fiber-Raman devices integrated with plasmonic nanostructures have promising potentials for in situ probing remote liquid samples and biological samples. In this system, the fiber probe is required to simultaneously demonstrate stable surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) signals and high sensitivity toward the target species. Here we demonstrate a generic approach to integrate presynthesized plasmonic nanostructures with tapered fiber probes that are prepared by a dipping-etching method, through reversed electrostatic attraction between the silane couple agent modified silica fiber probe and the nanostructures. Using this approach, both negatively and positively charged plasmonic nanostructures with various morphologies (such as Au nanosphere, Ag nanocube, Au nanorod, Au@Ag core-shell nanorod) can be stably assembled on the tapered silica fiber probes. Attributed to the electrostatic force between the plasmonic units and the fiber surface, the nanostructures do not disperse in liquid samples easily, making the relative standard deviation of SERS signals as low as 2% in analyte solution. Importantly, the detection sensitivity of the system can be optimized by adjusting the cone angle (from 3.6° to 22°) and the morphology of nanostructures assembled on the fiber. Thus, the nanostructures-sensitized optical fiber-Raman probes show great potentials in the applications of SERS-based environmental detection of liquid samples.

  12. Highly sensitive evanescent wave combination tapered fiber optic fluorosensor for protein detection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nardone, Vincent; Kapoor, Rakesh

    2008-02-01

    In this paper we are reporting the development of a highly sensitive evanescent wave combination tapered fiber optic fluorosensor. We have demonstrated detection of 5 pM Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) protein using these fiber optic sensors. The sensor can be easily adopted for detection of other proteins. Six identical probes were prepared and affinity pure Goat anti-BSA antibodies were immobilized on the probe surface. We could detect signal from all the probes kept in 5 pM to 1 nM BSA solution while no signal was detected from the probes kept in 20 nM labeled ESA solution.

  13. Modal demultiplexing properties of tapered and nanostructured optical fibers for in vivo optogenetic control of neural activity.

    PubMed

    Pisanello, Marco; Della Patria, Andrea; Sileo, Leonardo; Sabatini, Bernardo L; De Vittorio, Massimo; Pisanello, Ferruccio

    2015-10-01

    Optogenetic approaches to manipulate neural activity have revolutionized the ability of neuroscientists to uncover the functional connectivity underlying brain function. At the same time, the increasing complexity of in vivo optogenetic experiments has increased the demand for new techniques to precisely deliver light into the brain, in particular to illuminate selected portions of the neural tissue. Tapered and nanopatterned gold-coated optical fibers were recently proposed as minimally invasive multipoint light delivery devices, allowing for site-selective optogenetic stimulation in the mammalian brain [Pisanello , Neuron82, 1245 (2014)]. Here we demonstrate that the working principle behind these devices is based on the mode-selective photonic properties of the fiber taper. Using analytical and ray tracing models we model the finite conductance of the metal coating, and show that single or multiple optical windows located at specific taper sections can outcouple only specific subsets of guided modes injected into the fiber.

  14. Experimental results for characterization of a tapered plastic optical fiber sensor based on SPR

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cennamo, N.; Galatus, R.; Zeni, L.

    2015-05-01

    The experimental results obtained with two different Plastic Optical Fiber (POF) geometries, tapered and not-tapered, for a sensor based on Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) are presented. SPR is used for determining the refractive index variations at the interface between a gold layer and a dielectric medium (aqueous medium). In this work SPR sensors in POF configurations, useful for bio-sensing applications, have been realized for the optimization of the sensitivity and experimentally tested. The results show as the sensitivity increases with the tapered POF configuration, when the refractive index of aqueous medium increases.

  15. Low temperature and UV curable sol-gel coatings for long lasting optical fiber biosensors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Otaduy, D.; Villar, A.; Gomez-Herrero, E.; Goitandia, A. M.; Gorritxategi, E.; Quintana, I.

    2010-04-01

    The use of optical fibers as sensing element is increasing in clinical, pharmaceutical and industrial applications. Excellent light delivery, long interaction length, low cost and ability not only to excite the target molecules but also to capture the emitted light from the targets are the hallmarks of optical fiber as biosensors. In biosensors based on fiber optics the interaction with the analyte can occur within an element of the optical fiber. One of the techniques for this kind of biosensors is to remove the fiber optic cladding and substitute it for biological coatings that will interact with the parameter to sensorize. The deposition of these layers can be made by sol-gel technology. The sol-gel technology is being increasingly used mainly due to the high versatility to tailor their optical features. Incorporation of suitable chemical and biochemical sensing agents have allowed determining pH, gases, and biochemical species, among others. Nonetheless, the relatively high processing temperatures and short lifetime values mean severe drawbacks for a successful exploitation of sol-gel based coated optical fibres. With regard to the latter, herein we present the design, preparation and characterization of novel sol-gel coated optical fibres. Low temperature and UV curable coating formulations were optimized to achieve a good adhesion and optical performance. The UV photopolymerizable formulation was comprised by glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GLYMO), Tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and an initiator. While the thermoset coating was prepared by using 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane, GLYMO, and TEOS as main reagents. Both curable sol-gel coated fibres were analysed by FTIR, SEM and optical characterization. Furthermore, in the present work a new technique for silica cladding removal has been developed by ultra-short pulses laser processing, getting good dimensional accuracy and surface integrity.

  16. 65-fs Yb-doped all-fiber laser using tapered fiber for nonlinearity and dispersion management.

    PubMed

    Yang, Peilong; Teng, Hao; Fang, Shaobo; Hu, Zhongqi; Chang, Guoqing; Wang, Junli; Wei, Zhiyi

    2018-04-15

    We implement an ultrafast Yb-doped all-fiber laser which incorporates tapered single-mode fibers for managing nonlinearity and dispersion. The tapered fiber placed in the oscillator cavity aims to broaden the optical spectrum of the intracavity pulse. At the oscillator output, we use another tapered fiber to perform pulse compression. The resulting 66.1-MHz Yb-doped all-fiber oscillator self-starts and generates 0.4-nJ, 65-fs pulses, which can serve as a compact and robust seed source for subsequent high-power, high-energy amplifiers.

  17. Vertically-tapered optical waveguide and optical spot transformer formed therefrom

    DOEpatents

    Bakke, Thor; Sullivan, Charles T.

    2004-07-27

    An optical waveguide is disclosed in which a section of the waveguide core is vertically tapered during formation by spin coating by controlling the width of an underlying mesa structure. The optical waveguide can be formed from spin-coatable materials such as polymers, sol-gels and spin-on glasses. The vertically-tapered waveguide section can be used to provide a vertical expansion of an optical mode of light within the optical waveguide. A laterally-tapered section can be added adjacent to the vertically-tapered section to provide for a lateral expansion of the optical mode, thereby forming an optical spot-size transformer for efficient coupling of light between the optical waveguide and a single-mode optical fiber. Such a spot-size transformer can also be added to a III-V semiconductor device by post processing.

  18. The comparison of two methods to manufacture fused biconical tapered optical fiber coupler

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Yue; Liu, Hairong

    2009-08-01

    Optical fiber coupler is a directional coupler which is crucial component for optical fiber communication systems. The fused biconical taper is the most important method in facture of optical fiber coupler, with many advantages of low excess loss, precise coupling ratio, good consistency and stability. In this paper we have introduced a new method to manufacture optical fiber coupler. And more over the new manufacture process has been compared with the traditional manufacture method. In the traditional crafts, two optical fibers are parallel placed, and then use the method of tie a knot of the two optical fibers. In the new process, a new program of fiber placement is introduced. Two optical fibers are parallel placed in the middle of the fixture, and then in order to make the bare part of the optical fiber close as much as possible, the new plan using high temperature resistant material bind the both end of the fiber which are not removing the cladding. After many contrast tests, we can see that adopt the improved method of fiber placement, during the process of fiber pulling, the variation of optical power in the directional arm and the coupler arm are more smooth and steady. But the excess loss (EL) generated in the process of pulling is a bit higher than the traditional method of tie a knot. The tests show that the new method of optical fiber placement is feasible in the actual projects for the manufacture of coupler with low coupling ratio, but for the control of the EL still need further studying.

  19. High sensitivity refractive index sensor based on adiabatic tapered optical fiber deposited with nanofilm by ALD.

    PubMed

    Zhu, Shan; Pang, Fufei; Huang, Sujuan; Zou, Fang; Dong, Yanhua; Wang, Tingyun

    2015-06-01

    Atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology is introduced to fabricate a high sensitivity refractive index sensor based on an adiabatic tapered optical fiber. Different thickness of Al2O3 nanofilm is coated around fiber taper precisely and uniformly under different deposition cycles. Attributed to the high refractive index of the Al2O3 nanofilm, an asymmetry Fabry-Perot like interferometer is constructed along the fiber taper. Based on the ray-optic analysis, total internal reflection happens on the nanofilm-surrounding interface. With the ambient refractive index changing, the phase delay induced by the Goos-Hänchen shift is changed. Correspondingly, the transmission resonant spectrum shifts, which can be utilized for realizing high sensitivity sensor. The high sensitivity sensor with 6008 nm/RIU is demonstrated by depositing 3000 layers Al2O3 nanofilm as the ambient refractive index is close to 1.33. This high sensitivity refractive index sensor is expected to have wide applications in biochemical sensors.

  20. A fiber-optic interferometer based on non-adiabatic fiber taper and long-period fiber grating for simultaneous measurement of magnetic field and temperature

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kang, Shouxin; Zhang, Hao; Liu, Bo; Lin, Wei; Zhang, Ning; Miao, Yinping

    2016-01-01

    A dual-parameter sensor based on a fiber-optic interferometer consisting of a non-adiabatic fiber taper and a long-period fiber grating (LPFG) integrated with magnetic nanoparticle fluids has been proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Due to the Mach-Zehnder interference induced by the concatenation of the fiber taper and long-period grating, an interferometric spectrum could be acquired within the transmission resonance spectral envelope of the LPFG. Thanks to different magnetic field and temperature sensitivities of difference interference dips, simultaneous measurement of the magnetic field intensity and environmental temperature could be achieved. Moreover, due to the variation in coupling coefficients of the fiber taper and the LPFG in response to the change of the applied magnetic field intensity, some of the interference dips would exhibit opposite magnetic-field-intensity-dependent transmission loss variation behavior. Magnetic field intensity and temperature sensitivities of 0.017 31 dB Oe-1 and 0.0315 dB K-1, and -0.024 55 dB Oe-1 and -0.056 28 dB K-1 were experimentally acquired for the experimentally monitored interference dips.

  1. Optical fiber micro-displacement sensor using a refractive index modulation window-assisted reflection fiber taper

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bao, Weijia; Qiao, Xueguang; Yin, Xunli; Rong, Qiangzhou; Wang, Ruohui; Yang, Hangzhou

    2017-12-01

    We demonstrate a compact fiber-optic quasi-Michelson interferometer (QMI) for micro-displacement measurement. The sensor comprises a micro-structure of a reflection taper tip containing a refractive index modification (RIM) as a coupling window over the interface between core and cladding of the fiber. Femtosecond laser-based direct inscription technique is used to achieve this window inscription and to induce large refractive index change. The RIM acts as a window for the strong coupling and recoupling of core-to-cladding modes. As the core and cladding modes are reflected at the taper tip and coupled back to lead-in fiber, a well-defined interference spectrum is achieved. The spectral intensity exhibits a high micro-bending sensitivity of 4 . 94 dB / μm because of the sensitivity to bending of recoupled intensity of cladding modes. In contrast, the spectral wavelength is insensitive to bending but linearly responds to temperature. The simultaneous measurements, including power-referenced for displacement and wavelength-referenced for temperature, were achieved by selective interference dip monitoring.

  2. Numerical modelling on stimulated Brillouin scattering characterization for Graphene-clad tapered silica fiber

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, Hui Jing; Abdullah, Fairuz; Ismail, Aiman

    2017-11-01

    This paper presents finite numerical modelling on the cross-sectional region of tapered single mode fiber and graphene-clad tapered fiber. Surface acoustic wave propagation across the tapered surface region on tapered single mode fiber has a high threshold power at 61.87 W which is challenging to overcome by the incident pump wave. Surface acoustic wave propagation of fiber surface however made tapered wave plausible in the optical sensor application. This research introduces graphene as the cladding layer on tapered fiber, acoustic confinement occurs due to the graphene cladding which lowers the threshold power from 61.87 W to 2.17 W.

  3. Thulium fiber laser lithotripsy using tapered fibers.

    PubMed

    Blackmon, Richard L; Irby, Pierce B; Fried, Nathaniel M

    2010-01-01

    The Thulium fiber laser has recently been tested as a potential alternative to the Holmium:YAG laser for lithotripsy. This study explores use of a short taper for expanding the Thulium fiber laser beam at the distal tip of a small-core fiber. Thulium fiber laser radiation with a wavelength of 1,908 nm, 10 Hz pulse rate, 70 mJ pulse energy, and 1-millisecond pulse duration was delivered through a 2-m-length fiber with 150-microm-core-input-end, 300-microm-core-output-end, and 5-mm-length taper, in contact with human uric acid (UA) and calcium oxalate monohydrate (COM) stones, ex vivo (n = 10 each). Stone mass loss, stone crater depths, fiber transmission losses, fiber burn-back, irrigation rates, and deflection through a flexible ureteroscope were measured for the tapered fiber and compared with conventional fibers. After delivery of 1,800 pulses through the tapered fiber, mass loss measured 12.7+/-2.6 mg for UA and 7.2+/-0.8 mg COM stones, comparable to conventional 100-microm-core fibers (12.6+/-2.5 mg for UA and 6.8+/-1.7 mg for COM stones). No transmission losses or burn-back occurred for the tapered fiber after 36,000 pulses, while a conventional 150-microm fiber experienced significant tip degradation after only 1,800 pulses. High irrigation rates were measured with the tapered fiber inserted through the working port of a flexible ureteroscope without hindering its deflection, mimicking that of a conventional 150 microm fiber. The short tapered distal fiber tip allows expansion of the laser beam, resulting in decreased fiber tip damage compared to conventional small-core fibers, without compromising fiber bending, stone vaporization efficiency, or irrigation rates.

  4. Ultra-low-loss optical fiber nanotapers.

    PubMed

    Brambilla, Gilberto; Finazzi, Vittoria; Richardson, David

    2004-05-17

    Optical fiber tapers with a waist size larger than 1microm are commonplace in telecommunications and sensor applications. However the fabrication of low-loss optical fiber tapers with subwavelength diameters was previously thought to be impractical due to difficulties associated with control of the surface roughness and diameter uniformity. In this paper we show that very-long ultra-low-loss tapers can in fact be produced using a conventional fiber taper rig incorporating a simple burner configuration. For single-mode operation, the optical losses we achieve at 1.55microm are one order of magnitude lower than losses previously reported in the literature for tapers of a similar size. SEM images confirm excellent taper uniformity. We believe that these low-loss structures should pave the way to a whole range of fiber nanodevices.

  5. Taking a look at the calibration of a CCD detector with a fiber-optic taper

    PubMed Central

    Alkire, R. W.; Rotella, F. J.; Duke, N. E. C.; Otwinowski, Zbyszek; Borek, Dominika

    2016-01-01

    At the Structural Biology Center beamline 19BM, located at the Advanced Photon Source, the operational characteristics of the equipment are routinely checked to ensure they are in proper working order. After performing a partial flat-field calibration for the ADSC Quantum 210r CCD detector, it was confirmed that the detector operates within specifications. However, as a secondary check it was decided to scan a single reflection across one-half of a detector module to validate the accuracy of the calibration. The intensities from this single reflection varied by more than 30% from the module center to the corner of the module. Redistribution of light within bent fibers of the fiber-optic taper was identified to be a source of this variation. The degree to which the diffraction intensities are corrected to account for characteristics of the fiber-optic tapers depends primarily upon the experimental strategy of data collection, approximations made by the data processing software during scaling, and crystal symmetry. PMID:27047303

  6. Tapered optical fiber sensor based on localized surface plasmon resonance.

    PubMed

    Lin, Hsing-Ying; Huang, Chen-Han; Cheng, Gia-Ling; Chen, Nan-Kuang; Chui, Hsiang-Chen

    2012-09-10

    A tapered fiber localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) sensor is demonstrated for refractive index sensing and label-free biochemical detection. The sensing strategy relies on the interrogation of the transmission intensity change due to the evanescent field absorption of immobilized gold nanoparticles on the tapered fiber surface. The refractive index resolution based on the interrogation of transmission intensity change is calculated to be 3.2×10⁻⁵ RIU. The feasibility of DNP-functionalized tapered fiber LSPR sensor in monitoring anti-DNP antibody with different concentrations spiked in buffer is examined. Results suggest that the compact sensor can perform qualitative and quantitative biochemical detection in real-time and thus has potential to be used in biomolecular sensing applications.

  7. High Sensitivity Refractometer Based on TiO2-Coated Adiabatic Tapered Optical Fiber via ALD Technology

    PubMed Central

    Zhu, Shan; Pang, Fufei; Huang, Sujuan; Zou, Fang; Guo, Qiang; Wen, Jianxiang; Wang, Tingyun

    2016-01-01

    Atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology is introduced to fabricate a high sensitivity refractometer based on an adiabatic tapered optical fiber. Different thicknesses of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanofilm were coated around the tapered fiber precisely and uniformly under different deposition cycles. Attributed to the higher refractive index of the TiO2 nanofilm compared to that of silica, an asymmetric Fabry–Perot (F-P) resonator could be constructed along the fiber taper. The central wavelength of the F-P resonator could be controlled by adjusting the thickness of the TiO2 nanofilm. Such a F-P resonator is sensitive to changes in the surrounding refractive index (SRI), which is utilized to realize a high sensitivity refractometer. The refractometer developed by depositing 50.9-nm-thickness TiO2 on the tapered fiber shows SRI sensitivity as high as 7096 nm/RIU in the SRI range of 1.3373–1.3500. Due to TiO2’s advantages of high refractive index, lack of toxicity, and good biocompatibility, this refractometer is expected to have wide applications in the biochemical sensing field. PMID:27537885

  8. Transmission degradation and preservation for tapered optical fibers in rubidium vapor.

    PubMed

    Lai, Meimei; Franson, James D; Pittman, Todd B

    2013-04-20

    The use of subwavelength diameter tapered optical fibers (TOFs) in warm rubidium vapor has recently been identified as a promising system for realizing ultralow-power nonlinear optical effects. However, at the relatively high atomic densities needed for many of these experiments, rubidium atoms accumulating on the TOF surface can cause a significant loss of overall transmission through the fiber. Here we report direct measurements of the time scale associated with this transmission degradation for various rubidium density conditions. Transmission is affected almost immediately after the introduction of rubidium vapor into the system, and declines rapidly as the density is increased. More significantly, we show how a heating element designed to raise the TOF temperature can be used to reduce this transmission loss and dramatically extend the effective TOF transmission lifetime.

  9. Escherichia coli biosensors for environmental, food industry and biological warfare agent detection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Allil, R. C. S. B.; Werneck, M. M.; da Silva-Neto, J. L.; Miguel, M. A. L.; Rodrigues, D. M. C.; Wandermur, G. L.; Rambauske, D. C.

    2013-06-01

    This work has the objective to research and develop a plastic optical fiber biosensor based taper and mPOF LPG techniques to detect Escherichia coli by measurements of index of refraction. Generally, cell detection is crucial in microbiological analysis of clinical, food, water or environmental samples. However, methods current employed are time consuming, taking at least 72 hours in order to produce reliable responses as they depend on sample collection and cell culture in controlled conditions. The delay in obtaining the results of the analysis can result in contamination of a great number of consumers. Plastic Optical Fiber (POF) biosensors consist in a viable alternative for rapid and inexpensive scheme for cells detection. A study the sensitivity of these sensors for microbiological detection, fiber Tapers and Long Period Grating (LPG) both in poly-methyl-methacrylate (PMMA) were realized as possible candidates to take part of a biosensor system to detect Escherichia coli in water samples. In this work we adopted the immunocapture technique, which consists of quantifying bacteria in a liquid sample, attract-ing and fixing the bacteria on the surface of the polymer optical fiber, by the antigen-antibody reaction. The results were obtained by optical setup that consists in a side of the fiber a LED coupled to a photodetector through a POF with the taper in the middle of it. On the other side of the POF a photodetector receives this light producting a photocurrent. The output voltage is fed into the microcontroller A/D input port and its output data is sent via USB to a LabView software running in a microcomputer. The results showed the possibility of the POF in biosensor application capable to detect E. coli for environmental and food industry and for detecting and identifying biological-warfare agents using a very rapid response sensor, applicable to field detection prototypes.

  10. The fabrication of a tapered fiber connector and its coupling efficiency

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Qinggui, Hu; Chengzhong, Li

    2017-11-01

    In order to reduce the adverse influence of transversal displacement of the optical fiber connector, we propose the directional tapered communication fiber connector, in which the fiber head is tapered according to the signal transmission direction to improve efficiency. We used a flame-brush technique to produce the tapered fiber successfully. In the next step, two experiments in different environments were performed; one in a static environment and the other in a vibration environment. The first experiment shows that the efficiency of the tapered connector is higher than that of the common connector in the same transversal displacement. The second experiment shows that the efficiency of the tapered connector is higher than that of the common connector in the same frequency and amplitude.

  11. Massive photothermal trapping and migration of particles by a tapered optical fiber.

    PubMed

    Xin, Hongbao; Li, Xingmin; Li, Baojun

    2011-08-29

    A simple but highly efficient method for particles or bacteria trapping and removal from water is of great importance for local water purification, particularly, for sanitation. Here, we report a massive photothermal trapping and migration of dielectric particles (SiO2, 2.08-µm diameter) in water by using a tapered optical fiber (3.1-µm diameter for taper). With a laser beam of 1.55 µm (170 mW) injected into the fiber, particles moved towards the position, which is about 380 µm away from the tip of the fiber, and assembled at a 290 µm × 100 µm spindle-shaped region. The highest assembly speed of particles is 22.1 ind./s and the highest moving velocity is 20.5 µm/s, which were induced by both negative photophoresis and temperature gradient. The number of assembled particles can reach 10,150 in 15 minutes. With a move of the fiber, the assembled particles will also migrate. We found that, when the fiber was moved 172 µm away from its original location, almost all of the assembled 10,150 particles were migrated to a new location in 140 s with a distance of 172 µm from their original location.

  12. Tapered fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometers for vibration and elasticity sensing applications.

    PubMed

    Chen, Nan-Kuang; Hsieh, Yu-Hsin; Lee, Yi-Kun

    2013-05-06

    We demonstrate the optical measurements of heart-beat pulse rate and also elasticity of a polymeric tube, using a tapered fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer. This device has two abrupt tapers in the Er/Yb codoped fiber and thus fractional amount of core mode is converted into cladding modes at the first abrupt taper. The core and cladding modes propagate through different optical paths and meet again at the second abrupt taper to produce interferences. The mechanical vibration signals generated by the blood vessels and by an inflated polymeric tube can perturb the optical paths of resonant modes to move around the resonant wavelengths. Thus, the cw laser signal is modulated to become pulses to reflect the heart-beat pulse rate and the elasticity of a polymeric tube, respectively.

  13. Alpha-fetoprotein detection by using a localized surface plasmon coupled fluorescence fiber-optic biosensor

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chang, Ying-Feng; Chen, Ran-Chou; Li, Ying-Chang; Yu, Chih-Jen; Hsieh, Bao-Yu; Chou, Chien

    2007-11-01

    Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) detection by using a localized surface plasmon coupled fluorescence (LSPCF) fiber-optic biosensor is setup and experimentally demonstrated. It is based on gold nanoparticle (GNP) and coupled with localized surface plasmon wave on the surface of GNP. In this experiment, the fluorophores are labeled on anti-AFP which are bound to protein A conjugated GNP. Thus, LSPCF is excited with high efficiency in the near field of localized surface plasmon wave. Therefore, not only the sensitivity of LSPCF biosensor is enhanced but also the specific selectivity of AFP is improved. Experimentally, the ability of real time measurement in the range of AFP concentration from 0.1ng/ml to 100ng/ml was detected. To compare with conventional methods such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) or radioimmunoassay (RIA), the LSPCF fiber-optic biosensor performs higher or comparable detection sensitivity, respectively.

  14. Wide-field lensless fluorescent microscopy using a tapered fiber-optic faceplate on a chip.

    PubMed

    Coskun, Ahmet F; Sencan, Ikbal; Su, Ting-Wei; Ozcan, Aydogan

    2011-09-07

    We demonstrate lensless fluorescent microscopy over a large field-of-view of ~60 mm(2) with a spatial resolution of <4 µm. In this on-chip fluorescent imaging modality, the samples are placed on a fiber-optic faceplate that is tapered such that the density of the fiber-optic waveguides on the top facet is >5 fold larger than the bottom one. Placed on this tapered faceplate, the fluorescent samples are pumped from the side through a glass hemisphere interface. After excitation of the samples, the pump light is rejected through total internal reflection that occurs at the bottom facet of the sample substrate. The fluorescent emission from the sample is then collected by the smaller end of the tapered faceplate and is delivered to an opto-electronic sensor-array to be digitally sampled. Using a compressive sampling algorithm, we decode these raw lensfree images to validate the resolution (<4 µm) of this on-chip fluorescent imaging platform using microparticles as well as labeled Giardia muris cysts. This wide-field lensfree fluorescent microscopy platform, being compact and high-throughput, might provide a valuable tool especially for cytometry, rare cell analysis (involving large area microfluidic systems) as well as for microarray imaging applications.

  15. Investigation of optical transmission loss by using a plasmonic Au nanoparticle assembly on a tapered fiber region

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yi, Ji-Haeng

    2015-11-01

    The optical transmission loss in a tapered fiber fabricated by using plasmonic Au nanoparticle deposition was investigated in the tapered region of the fiber. The amount of Au nanoparticle deposition was determined as a function of time, and the transmission loss was then compared with the losses of several spatial modes. The higher-order mode was found to affect the rate of increase in the transmission loss during the initial period of deposition, and a lower-order mode was found to contribute to the process during the latter period of deposition.

  16. Taking a look at the calibration of a CCD detector with a fiber-optic taper

    DOE PAGES

    Alkire, R. W.; Rotella, F. J.; Duke, Norma E. C.; ...

    2016-02-16

    At the Structural Biology Center beamline 19BM, located at the Advanced Photon Source, the operational characteristics of the equipment are routinely checked to ensure they are in proper working order. After performing a partial flat-field calibration for the ADSC Quantum 210r CCD detector, it was confirmed that the detector operates within specifications. However, as a secondary check it was decided to scan a single reflection across one-half of a detector module to validate the accuracy of the calibration. The intensities from this single reflection varied by more than 30% from the module center to the corner of the module. Redistributionmore » of light within bent fibers of the fiber-optic taper was identified to be a source of this variation. As a result, the degree to which the diffraction intensities are corrected to account for characteristics of the fiber-optic tapers depends primarily upon the experimental strategy of data collection, approximations made by the data processing software during scaling, and crystal symmetry.« less

  17. Studies on low-loss coupling of non-node anti-resonant hollow-core fiber and tapered fiber

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Naiqian; Wang, Zefeng; Liu, Wenbo; Xi, Xiaoming

    2017-10-01

    Up to now, near almost optical fiber gas lasers employ/adopt the scheme of free-space coupling, which increases the difficulty to adjust the optical path, and has poor stability. All-fiber structure fiber-gas lasers are important development directions in the future. We established the numerical model of SMF-28 type tapered single-mode fiber and non-node hollow-core fiber. When the SMF-28 type single-mode fiber has a waist diameter of 40μm when the light source is LP01 fundamental mode with 1550nm wavelength, the mode field diameter is the largest. Meanwhile, we simulated that the equivalent mode field diameter of non-node anti-resonant hollow-core fiber is about 75μm at the same 1550nm wavelength light source. Then, we use different waist diameters of SMF-28 type tapered fibers injected to the non-node anti-resonant hollow-core fiber in simulation and experiments. In the scheme of the single-ended low-loss coupling, the simulation results indicate that the best waist diameter of tapered fiber is 40μm, and the calculated maximum coupling efficiency is 83.55%. Meanwhile, the experimental result of maximum coupling efficiency is 80.74% when the best waist diameter of tapered fiber is also 40μm. As for the double-ended low-loss coupling, the calculated maximum coupling efficiency is near 83.38%.

  18. A comprehensive review of lossy mode resonance-based fiber optic sensors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Qi; Zhao, Wan-Ming

    2018-01-01

    This review paper presents the achievements and present developments in lossy mode resonances-based optical fiber sensors in different sensing field, such as physical, chemical and biological, and briefly look forward to its future development trend in the eyes of the author. Lossy mode resonances (LMR) is a relatively new physical optics phenomenon put forward in recent years. Fiber sensors utilizing LMR offered a new way to improve the sensing capability. LMR fiber sensors have diverse structures such as D-shaped, cladding-off, fiber tip, U-shaped and tapered fiber structures. Major applications of LMR sensors include refraction sensors and biosensors. LMR-based fiber sensors have attracted considerable research and development interest, because of their distinct advantages such as high sensitivity and label-free measurement. This kind of sensor is also of academic interest and many novel and great ideas are continuously developed.

  19. All-fiber tunable laser based on an acousto-optic tunable filter and a tapered fiber.

    PubMed

    Huang, Ligang; Song, Xiaobo; Chang, Pengfa; Peng, Weihua; Zhang, Wending; Gao, Feng; Bo, Fang; Zhang, Guoquan; Xu, Jingjun

    2016-04-04

    An all-fiber tunable laser was fabricated based on an acousto-optic tunable filter and a tapered fiber. The structure was of a high signal-to-noise ratio, therefore, no extra gain flattening was needed in the laser. In the experiment, the wavelength of the laser could be tuned from 1532.1 nm to 1570.4 nm with a 3-dB bandwidth of about 0.2 nm. Given enough nonlinearity in the laser cavity, it could also generate a sliding-frequency pulse train. The laser gains advantages of fast tuning and agility in pulse generation, and its simple structure is low cost for practical applications.

  20. Refractive index sensor based on plastic optical fiber with tapered structure.

    PubMed

    De-Jun, Feng; Guan-Xiu, Liu; Xi-Lu, Liu; Ming-Shun, Jiang; Qing-Mei, Sui

    2014-04-01

    This work reports a refractive index sensor made of plastic optical fiber (POF) with tapered structure. Transmission loss is measured when the external environment's refractive index changes from 1.33 to 1.41. Three wavelengths (532, 633, and 780 nm) are used to evaluate the sensitivity of the sensor, and results indicate that 633 nm is the best sensing wavelength due to the increased levels of sensitivity achieved at this wavelength. A biconical sensing structure is designed to enhance the sensitivity of the sensor. A sensitivity of 950 μW/RIU at 633 nm is obtained for a biconical sensing structure when launched power is 1 mW. Due to its sensitivity to the refractive index and simple construction, POF with tapered structure has potential applications in the biosensing field.

  1. Borosilicate Glass Fiber-Optic Biosensor for the Detection of Escherichia coli.

    PubMed

    Maas, Michael B; Maybery, Giles H C; Perold, Willem J; Neveling, Deon P; Dicks, Leon M T

    2018-02-01

    Polyclonal antibodies against Escherichia coli and fluorescent, secondary, antibodies were immobilized on borosilicate glass fibers pre-treated with 3-glycidyloxypropyl trimethoxysilane (GPS). Light with an average wavelength of 627 nm, emitted by a diode placed at one end of the glass fiber, was detected by an ultrasensitive photodiode with peak sensitivity at 640 nm. Changes in fluorescence, caused by binding of E. coli to the antibodies, changed the net refractive index of the glass fiber and thus the internal reflection of light. These evanescent changes in photon energy were recorded by an ultrasensitive photodiode. Signals were amplified and changes in voltage recorded with a digital multimeter. A linear increase in voltage readings was recorded over 2 h when 3.0 × 10 7 CFU/ml and 2.77 × 10 9 CFU/ml E. coli were adhered to the antibodies. Voltage readings were recorded with E. coli cell numbers from 2 × 10 3 CFU/ml to 2 × 10 6 CFU/ml, but readings remained unchanged for 2 h, indicating that the limit of detection is 3.0 × 10 7 CFU/ml. This simple technology may be used to develop a low-cost, portable, fiber-optic biosensor to detect E. coli in infections and may have applications in the medical field. Research is in progress to optimize the sensitivity of the fiber-optic biosensor and determine its specificity.

  2. Optical fiber LPG biosensor integrated microfluidic chip for ultrasensitive glucose detection

    PubMed Central

    Yin, Ming-jie; Huang, Bobo; Gao, Shaorui; Zhang, A. Ping; Ye, Xuesong

    2016-01-01

    An optical fiber sensor integrated microfluidic chip is presented for ultrasensitive detection of glucose. A long-period grating (LPG) inscribed in a small-diameter single-mode fiber (SDSMF) is employed as an optical refractive-index (RI) sensor. With the layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly technique, poly (ethylenimine) (PEI) and poly (acrylic acid) (PAA) multilayer film is deposited on the SDSMF-LPG sensor for both supporting and signal enhancement, and then a glucose oxidase (GOD) layer is immobilized on the outer layer for glucose sensing. A microfluidic chip for glucose detection is fabricated after embedding the SDSMF-LPG biosensor into the microchannel of the chip. Experimental results reveal that the SDSMF-LPG biosensor based on such a hybrid sensing film can ultrasensitively detect glucose concentration as low as 1 nM. After integration into the microfluidic chip, the detection range of the sensor is extended from 2 µM to 10 µM, and the response time is remarkablely shortened from 6 minutes to 70 seconds. PMID:27231643

  3. Rapid fabrication of micro-nanometric tapered fiber lens and characterization by a novel scanning optical microscope with submicron resolution.

    PubMed

    Zheng, Shouguo; Zeng, Xinhua; Luo, Wei; Jradi, Safi; Plain, Jérôme; Li, Miao; Renaud-Goud, Philippe; Deturche, Régis; Wang, Zengfu; Kou, Jieting; Bachelot, Renaud; Royer, Pascal

    2013-01-14

    In numerous applications of optical scanning microscopy, a reference tapered fiber lens with high symmetry at sub-wavelength scale remains a challenge. Here, we demonstrate the ability to manufacture it with a wide range of geometry control, either for the length from several hundred nanometers to several hundred microns, or for the curvature radius from several tens of nanometers to several microns on the endface of a single mode fiber. On this basis, a scanning optical microscope has been developed, which allows for fast characterization of various sub-wavelength tapered fiber lenses. Focal position and depth of microlenses with different geometries have been determined to be ranged from several hundreds of nanometers to several microns. FDTD calculations are consistent with experimental results.

  4. A fiber-optic sorbitol biosensor based on NADH fluorescence detection toward rapid diagnosis of diabetic complications.

    PubMed

    Gessei, Tomoko; Arakawa, Takahiro; Kudo, Hiroyuki; Mitsubayashi, Kohji

    2015-09-21

    Accumulation of sorbitol in the tissue is known to cause microvascular diabetic complications. In this paper, a fiber-optic biosensor for sorbitol which is used as a biomarker of diabetic complications was developed and tested. The biosensor used a sorbitol dehydrogenase from microorganisms of the genus Flavimonas with high substrate specificity and detected the fluorescence of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) by the enzymatic reaction. An ultraviolet light emitting diode (UV-LED) was used as the excitation light source of NADH. The fluorescence of NADH was detected using a spectrometer or a photomultiplier tube (PMT). The UV-LED and the photodetector were coupled using a Y-shaped optical fiber. In the experiment, an optical fiber probe with a sorbitol dehydrogenase immobilized membrane was placed in a cuvette filled with a phosphate buffer containing the oxidized form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD(+)). The changes in NADH fluorescence intensity were measured after adding a standard sorbitol solution. According to the experimental assessment, the calibration range of the sorbitol biosensor systems using a spectrometer and a PMT was 5.0-1000 μmol L(-1) and 1.0-1000 μmol L(-1), respectively. The sorbitol biosensor system using the sorbitol dehydrogenase from microorganisms of the genus Flavimonas has high selectivity and sensitivity compared with that from sheep liver. The sorbitol biosensor allows for point-of-care testing applications or daily health care tests for diabetes patients.

  5. Optical fiber refractometer based on tapered tilted-fiber Bragg grating

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Tao; Liu, Tiegen; Liu, Kun; Jiang, Junfeng; Yu, Zhe; Xue, Meng

    2016-11-01

    Tilted fiber Bragg gratings (TFBGs) have been demonstrated to be accurate refractometers as they couple light from the fiber core to the cladding. In our experiment, we changed the physical structure of the TFBGs to improve the refractive index sensing ability. One way is to stretch the grating section 5 mm longer. The result showed that not only the number of the cladding mode of the TFBG decreases but also the full width half-maximum (FWHM) of the cladding modes and core mode changes. The FWHM of the cladding mode of the tapered TFBG is more than twice than that of the original. However, the refractive index sensitivity of the tapered TFBG has no obvious improvement. Another way is to etch the grating section with 20% hydrofluoric acid solution. We find that the smaller the clad diameter, the higher the refractive index sensitivity of the TFBG.

  6. Sensitivity enhancement of fluorescence detection in CE by coupling and conducting excitation light with tapered optical fiber.

    PubMed

    Yang, Xiupei; Huo, Feng; Yuan, Hongyan; Zhang, Bo; Xiao, Dan; Choi, Martin M F

    2011-01-01

    This paper reports the enhancement of sensitivity of detection for in-column fiber optic-induced fluorescence detection system in CE by tapered optical fiber (TOF). Two types of optical fiber, TOF and conventional cylindrical optical fiber (COF), were employed to construct the CE (TOF-CE and COF-CE) and were compared for sensitivity to riboflavin (RF). The fluorescence intensities from a RF sample with excitation light sources and fibers at various coupling angles were investigated. The fluorescence signal from TOF-CE was ca. ten times that of COF-CE. In addition, the detection performance of four excitation light source-fiber configurations including Laser-TOF, Laser-COF, LED-TOF, and LED-COF were compared. The LODs for RF were 0.21, 0.82, 0.80, and 7.5 nM, respectively, for the four excitation light source-fiber configurations. The results demonstrate that the sensitivity obtained by LED-TOF is close to that of Laser-COF. Both Laser-TOF and LED-TOF can greatly improve the sensitivity of detection in CE. TOF has the major attribute of collecting and focusing the excitation light intensity. Thus, the sensitivity obtained by LED-TOF without focusing lens is just same as that of LED-COF with a focusing lens. This demonstrates that the CE system can be further simplified by eliminating the focusing lens for excitation light. LED-TOF-CE and LED-COF-CE system were applied to the separation and determination of RF in real sample (green tea), respectively. The tapered fiber optic-induced fluorescence detection system in CE is an ideal tool for trace analysis. Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  7. Higher-order micro-fiber modes for Escherichia coli manipulation using a tapered seven-core fiber

    PubMed Central

    Rong, Qiangzhou; Zhou, Yi; Yin, Xunli; Shao, Zhihua; Qiao, Xueguang

    2017-01-01

    Optical manipulation using optical micro- and nano-fibers has shown potential for controlling bacterial activities such as E. coli trapping, propelling, and binding. Most of these manipulations have been performed using the propagation of the fundamental mode through the fiber. However, along the maximum mode-intensity axis, the higher-order modes have longer evanescent field extensions and larger field amplitudes at the fiber waist than the fundamental mode, opening up new possibilities for manipulating E. coli bacteria. In this work, a compact seven-core fiber (SCF)-based micro-fiber/optical tweezers was demonstrated for trapping, propelling, and rotating E. coli bacteria using the excitation of higher-order modes. The diameter of the SCF taper was 4 µm at the taper waist, which was much larger than that of previous nano-fiber tweezers. The laser wavelength was tunable from 1500 nm to 1600 nm, simultaneously causing photophoretic force, gradient force, and scattering force. This work provides a new opportunity for better understanding optical manipulation using higher-order modes at the single-cell level. PMID:28966849

  8. Higher-order micro-fiber modes for Escherichia coli manipulation using a tapered seven-core fiber.

    PubMed

    Rong, Qiangzhou; Zhou, Yi; Yin, Xunli; Shao, Zhihua; Qiao, Xueguang

    2017-09-01

    Optical manipulation using optical micro- and nano-fibers has shown potential for controlling bacterial activities such as E. coli trapping, propelling, and binding. Most of these manipulations have been performed using the propagation of the fundamental mode through the fiber. However, along the maximum mode-intensity axis, the higher-order modes have longer evanescent field extensions and larger field amplitudes at the fiber waist than the fundamental mode, opening up new possibilities for manipulating E. coli bacteria. In this work, a compact seven-core fiber (SCF)-based micro-fiber/optical tweezers was demonstrated for trapping, propelling, and rotating E. coli bacteria using the excitation of higher-order modes. The diameter of the SCF taper was 4 µm at the taper waist, which was much larger than that of previous nano-fiber tweezers. The laser wavelength was tunable from 1500 nm to 1600 nm, simultaneously causing photophoretic force, gradient force, and scattering force. This work provides a new opportunity for better understanding optical manipulation using higher-order modes at the single-cell level.

  9. Biconically tapered fiber optic probes for rapid label-free immunoassays.

    PubMed

    Miller, John; Castaneda, Angelica; Lee, Kun Ho; Sanchez, Martin; Ortiz, Adrian; Almaz, Ekrem; Almaz, Zuleyha Turkoglu; Murinda, Shelton; Lin, Wei-Jen; Salik, Ertan

    2015-04-01

    We report use of U-shaped biconically tapered optical fibers (BTOF) as probes for label-free immunoassays. The tapered regions of the sensors were functionalized by immobilization of immunoglobulin-G (Ig-G) and tested for detection of anti-IgG at concentrations of 50 ng/mL to 50 µg/mL. Antibody-antigen reaction creates a biological nanolayer modifying the waveguide structure leading to a change in the sensor signal, which allows real-time monitoring. The kinetics of the antibody (mouse Ig-G)-antigen (rabbit anti-mouse IgG) reactions was studied. Hydrofluoric acid treatment makes the sensitive region thinner to enhance sensitivity, which we confirmed by experiments and simulations. The limit of detection for the sensor was estimated to be less than 50 ng/mL. Utilization of the rate of the sensor peak shift within the first few minutes of the antibody-antigen reaction is proposed as a rapid protein detection method.

  10. Application of carbon nanotubes to topographical resolution enhancement of tapered fiber scanning near field optical microscopy probes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huntington, S. T.; Jarvis, S. P.

    2003-05-01

    Scanning near field optical microscopy (SNOM) probes are typically tapered optical fibers with metallic coatings. The tip diameters are generally in excess of 300 nm and thus provide poor topographical resolution. Here we report on the attachment multiwalled carbon nanotubes to the probes in order to substantially enhance the topographical resolution, without adversely affecting the optical resolution.

  11. Tapered optical fiber waveguide coupling to whispering gallery modes of liquid crystal microdroplet for thermal sensing application.

    PubMed

    Wang, Yan; Li, Hanyang; Zhao, Liyuan; Liu, Yongjun; Liu, Shuangqiang; Yang, Jun

    2017-01-23

    We demonstrate efficient coupling to the optical whispering gallery modes (WGMs) of nematic liquid crystal (NLC) microdroplets immersed in an immiscible aqueous environment. An individual NLC microdroplet, confined at the tip of a microcapillary, was coupled via a tapered optical fiber waveguide positioned correctly within its vicinity. Critical coupling of the taper-microdroplet system was facilitated by adjusting the gap between the taper and the microdroplet to change the overlap of the evanescent electromagnetic fields; efficient and controlled power transfer from the taper waveguide to the NLC microdroplet is indeed possible via the proposed technique. We also found that NLC microdroplets can function as highly sensitive thermal sensors: A maximum temperature sensitivity of 267.6 pm/°C and resolution of 7.5 × 10-2 °C were achieved in a 78-μm-diameter NLC microdroplet.

  12. Tapered Optical Fiber Functionalized with Palladium Nanoparticles by Drop Casting and Laser Radiation for H₂ and Volatile Organic Compounds Sensing Purposes.

    PubMed

    González-Sierra, Nancy Elizabeth; Gómez-Pavón, Luz Del Carmen; Pérez-Sánchez, Gerardo Francisco; Luis-Ramos, Arnulfo; Zaca-Morán, Plácido; Muñoz-Pacheco, Jesús Manuel; Chávez-Ramírez, Francisco

    2017-09-06

    A comparative study on the sensing properties of a tapered optical fiber pristine and functionalized with the palladium nanoparticles to hydrogen and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), is presented. The sensor response and, response/recovery times were extracted from the measurements of the transient response of the device. The tapered optical fiber sensor was fabricated using a single-mode optical fiber by the flame-brushing technique. Functionalization of the optical fiber was performed using an aqueous solution of palladium chloride by drop-casting technique assisted for laser radiation. The detection principle of the sensor is based on the changes in the optical properties of palladium nanoparticles when exposed to reducing gases, which causes a variation in the absorption of evanescent waves. A continuous wave laser diode operating at 1550 nm is used for the sensor characterization. The sensor functionalized with palladium nanoparticles by this technique is viable for the sensing of hydrogen and VOCs, since it shows an enhancement in sensor response and response time compared to the sensor based on the pristine optical microfiber. The results show that the fabricated sensor is competitive with other fiber optic sensors functionalized with palladium nanoparticles to the hydrogen.

  13. Magnetic Field Sensing Based on Bi-Tapered Optical Fibers Using Spectral Phase Analysis.

    PubMed

    Herrera-Piad, Luis A; Haus, Joseph W; Jauregui-Vazquez, Daniel; Sierra-Hernandez, Juan M; Estudillo-Ayala, Julian M; Lopez-Dieguez, Yanelis; Rojas-Laguna, Roberto

    2017-10-20

    A compact, magnetic field sensor system based on a short, bi-tapered optical fiber (BTOF) span lying on a magnetic tape was designed, fabricated, and characterized. We monitored the transmission spectrum from a broadband light source, which displayed a strong interference signal. After data collection, we applied a phase analysis of the interference optical spectrum. We here report the results on two fabricated, BTOFs with different interference spectrum characteristics; we analyzed the signal based on the interference between a high-order modal component and the core fiber mode. The sensor exhibited a linear response for magnetic field increments, and we achieved a phase sensitivity of around 0.28 rad/mT. The sensing setup presented remote sensing operation and low-cost transducer magnetic material.

  14. Magnetic Field Sensing Based on Bi-Tapered Optical Fibers Using Spectral Phase Analysis

    PubMed Central

    Herrera-Piad, Luis A.; Jauregui-Vazquez, Daniel; Sierra-Hernandez, Juan M.; Lopez-Dieguez, Yanelis

    2017-01-01

    A compact, magnetic field sensor system based on a short, bi-tapered optical fiber (BTOF) span lying on a magnetic tape was designed, fabricated, and characterized. We monitored the transmission spectrum from a broadband light source, which displayed a strong interference signal. After data collection, we applied a phase analysis of the interference optical spectrum. We here report the results on two fabricated, BTOFs with different interference spectrum characteristics; we analyzed the signal based on the interference between a high-order modal component and the core fiber mode. The sensor exhibited a linear response for magnetic field increments, and we achieved a phase sensitivity of around 0.28 rad/mT. The sensing setup presented remote sensing operation and low-cost transducer magnetic material. PMID:29053570

  15. Modeling of dispersion and nonlinear characteristics of tapered photonic crystal fibers for applications in nonlinear optics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pakarzadeh, H.; Rezaei, S. M.

    2016-01-01

    In this article, we investigate for the first time the dispersion and the nonlinear characteristics of the tapered photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) as a function of length z, via solving the eigenvalue equation of the guided mode using the finite-difference frequency-domain method. Since the structural parameters such as the air-hole diameter and the pitch of the microstructured cladding change along the tapered PCFs, dispersion and nonlinear properties change with the length as well. Therefore, it is important to know the exact behavior of such fiber parameters along z which is necessary for nonlinear optics applications. We simulate the z dependency of the zero-dispersion wavelength, dispersion slope, effective mode area, nonlinear parameter, and the confinement loss along the tapered PCFs and propose useful relations for describing dispersion and nonlinear parameters. The results of this article, which are in a very good agreement with the available experimental data, are important for simulating pulse propagation as well as investigating nonlinear effects such as supercontinuum generation and parametric amplification in tapered PCFs.

  16. Eigenvalue equation and core-mode cutoff of weakly guiding tapered fiber as three layer optical waveguide and used as biochemical sensor.

    PubMed

    Linslal, C L; Mohan, P M S; Halder, A; Gangopadhyay, T K

    2012-06-01

    The core-mode cutoff plays a major role in evanescent field absorption based sensors. A method has been proposed to calculate the core-mode cutoff by solving the eigenvalue equations of a weakly guiding three layer optical waveguide graphically. The variation of normalized waveguide parameter (V) is also calculated with different wavelengths at core-mode cutoff. At the first step, theoretical analysis of tapered fiber parameters has been performed for core-mode cutoff. The taper angle of an adiabatic tapered fiber is also analyzed using the length-scale criterion. Secondly, single-mode tapered fiber has been developed to make a precision sensor element suitable for chemical detection. Finally, the sensor element has been used to detect absorption peak of ethylenediamine. Results are presented in which an absorption peak at 1540 nm is observed.

  17. Changes of propagation light in optical fiber submicron wires

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stasiewicz, K. A.; Łukowski, A.; Jaroszewicz, L. R.

    2013-05-01

    At the moment technology allows to miniaturize measurement system to several micrometers. Application of an optical fiber taper in such system needs to manufacture a new one with diameters below single micrometers which is very difficult and expensive. Another way to obtain this level of diameters is the process of tapering from the existing fibers. In the paper, experimental results of propagation light from a supercontinnum sources of the wavelength generates the wavelength of 350-2000 nm, in different optical fiber submicron wires made from tapers manufactured from single mode fibers are presented. Biconical optical fibers' tapers were manufactured in low pressure gas burner technique. There are presented spectral characteristics of a propagated beam. For the test, there was manufactured an optical fiber submicron wires with a different length of waist region with a diameter near one micrometer. We put to the test a taper made from a standard telecommunication fiber SMF-28 with a cutoff wavelength equal to 1260.

  18. Tapered Optical Fiber Functionalized with Palladium Nanoparticles by Drop Casting and Laser Radiation for H2 and Volatile Organic Compounds Sensing Purposes

    PubMed Central

    González-Sierra, Nancy Elizabeth; Gómez-Pavón, Luz del Carmen; Pérez-Sánchez, Gerardo Francisco; Luis-Ramos, Arnulfo; Zaca-Morán, Plácido; Chávez-Ramírez, Fernando

    2017-01-01

    A comparative study on the sensing properties of a tapered optical fiber pristine and functionalized with the palladium nanoparticles to hydrogen and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), is presented. The sensor response and, response/recovery times were extracted from the measurements of the transient response of the device. The tapered optical fiber sensor was fabricated using a single-mode optical fiber by the flame-brushing technique. Functionalization of the optical fiber was performed using an aqueous solution of palladium chloride by drop-casting technique assisted for laser radiation. The detection principle of the sensor is based on the changes in the optical properties of palladium nanoparticles when exposed to reducing gases, which causes a variation in the absorption of evanescent waves. A continuous wave laser diode operating at 1550 nm is used for the sensor characterization. The sensor functionalized with palladium nanoparticles by this technique is viable for the sensing of hydrogen and VOCs, since it shows an enhancement in sensor response and response time compared to the sensor based on the pristine optical microfiber. The results show that the fabricated sensor is competitive with other fiber optic sensors functionalized with palladium nanoparticles to the hydrogen. PMID:28878161

  19. Single-mode tapered optical fiber loop immunosensor II: assay of anti-cholera toxin immunoglobulins

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marks, Robert S.; Hale, Zoe M.; Levine, Myron M.; Lowe, C. R.; Payne, Frank P.

    1994-07-01

    An evanescent wave immunoassay for cholera antitoxin immunoglobulins was performed using a single mode tapered optical fiber loop sensor. The transducer was silanized with 3- glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane and chemically modified to link covalently either cholera toxin B subunit or a synthetic peptide derived from it, CTP3. The sensor was exposed to seral fluids, obtained from human volunteers having been exposed to live virulent Vibrio cholerae 01 and shown to produce rice-water stools. Other toxins of interest, such as Clostridium botulinum toxin A, have been tested on similar systems. The bound unlabelled immunoglobulins were then exposed to a mixture of FITC-anti-IgG and TRITC-anti-IgA, without requirement for a separation step. The emanating fluorescent emissions of fluorescein and rhodamine, excited by the input laser light, were coupled back into the guided mode of the tapered fiber, and used to determine the concentrations of the complementary antigens.

  20. Experimental design rules for implementing biconically tapered single mode optical fibre displacement sensors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arregui, Francisco J.; Matias, Ignacio R.; Bariain, Candido; Lopez-Amo, Manuel

    1998-06-01

    Tapered optical fibers are used to design couplers, wavelength division multiplexers, near field scanning optical microscopy, just to mention a few. Moreover, and due to its strong transmission dependence to external medium the tapered fiber may also be used to sense distinct parameters such as temperature, humidity, PH, etc. In this work bending effects in tapers are exploited to achieved displacement sensors and to present design rules for implementing these sensors according to the desired both range and sensitivity.

  1. Wavelength tunable ultrafast fiber laser via reflective mirror with taper structure.

    PubMed

    Fang, Li; Huang, Chuyun; Liu, Ting; Gogneau, Noelle; Bourhis, Eric; Gierak, Jacques; Oudar, Jean-Louis

    2016-12-20

    Laser sources with a controllable flexible wavelength have found widespread applications in optical fiber communication, optical sensing, and microscopy. Here, we report a tunable mode-locked fiber laser using a graphene-based saturable absorber and a tapered mirror as an end mirror in the cavity. The phase layer in the mirror is precisely etched by focused ion beam (FIB) milling technology, and the resonant wavelength of the mirror shifts correspond to the different etch depths. By scanning the tapered mirror mechanically, the center wavelength of a mode-locked fiber laser can be continuously tuned from 1562 to 1532 nm, with a pulse width in the sub-ps level and repetition rate of 27 MHz.

  2. Fiber optic engine for micro projection display.

    PubMed

    Arabi, Hesam Edin; An, Sohee; Oh, Kyunghwan

    2010-03-01

    A novel compact optical engine for a micro projector display is experimentally demonstrated, which is composed of RGB light sources, a tapered 3 x 1 Fiber Optic Color Synthesizer (FOCS) along with a fiberized ball-lens, and a two dimensional micro electromechanical scanning mirror. In the proposed optical engine, we successfully employed an all-fiber beam shaping technique combining optical fiber taper and fiberized ball lens that can render a narrow beam and enhance the resolution of the screened image in the far field. Optical performances of the proposed device assembly are investigated in terms of power loss, collimating strength of the collimator assembly, and color gamut of the output.

  3. Modeling of visible-extended supercontinuum generation from a tapered Ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Song, Rui; Lei, Chengmin; Han, Kai; Chen, Zilun; Pu, Dongsheng; Hou, Jing

    2017-05-01

    Supercontinuum generation directly from a nonlinear fiber amplifier, especially from a nonlinear ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier, attracts more and more attention due to its all-fiber structure, high optical to optical conversion efficiency, and high power output potential. However, the modeling of supercontinuum generation from a nonlinear fiber amplifier has been rarely reported. In this paper, the modeling of a tapered Ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier for visible extended to infrared supercontinuum generation is proposed based on the combination of the laser rate equations and the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation. Ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier generally can not generate visible extended supercontinuum due to its pumping wavelength and zero-dispersion wavelength. However, appropriate tapering and four-wave mixing makes the visible extended supercontinuum generation from an ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier possible. Tapering makes the zero-dispersion wavelength of the ytterbium-doped fiber shift to the short wavelength and minimizes the dispersion matching. Four-wave mixing plays an important role in the visible spectrum generation. The influence of pulse width and pump power on the supercontinuum generation is calculated and analyzed. The simulation results imply that it is promising and possible to fabricate a visible-to-infrared supercontinuum with low pump power and flat spectrum by using the tapered ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier scheme as long as the related parameters are well-selected.

  4. Bidirectional optical coupler for plastic optical fibers.

    PubMed

    Sugita, Tatsuya; Abe, Tomiya; Hirano, Kouki; Itoh, Yuzo

    2005-05-20

    We have developed a low-loss bidirectional optical coupler for high-speed optical communication with plastic optical fibers (POFs). The coupler, which is fabricated by an injection molding method that uses poly (methyl methacrylate), has an antisymmetric tapered shape. We show that the coupler has low insertion and branching losses. The tapered shape of the receiving branch reduces beam diameter and increases detection efficiency coupling to a photodetector, whose area is smaller than that of the plastic optical fiber. The possibility of more than 15-m bidirectional transmission with a signaling bit rate up to 500 Mbits/s for simplex step-index POFs is demonstrated.

  5. Bi-Tapered Fiber Sensor Using a Supercontinuum Light Source for a Broad Spectral Range

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Garcia Mina, Diego Felipe

    We describe the fabrication bi-tapered optical fiber sensors designed for shorter wavelength operation and we study their optical properties. The new sensing system designed and built for the project is a specialty optical fiber that is single-mode in the visible/near infrared wavelength region of interest. In fabricating the tapered fiber we control the taper parameters, such as the down-taper and up-taper rate, shape and length, and the fiber waist diameter and length. The sensing is mode is via the electromagnetic field, which is evanescent outside the optical fiber and is confined close to the fiber's surface (within a couple hundred nanometers). The fiber sensor system has multiple advantages as a compact, simple device with an ability to detected tiny changes in the refractive index. We developed a supercontinuum light source to provide a wide spectral wavelength range from visible to near IR. The source design was based on coupling light from a femtosecond laser in a photonic crystal fiber designed for high nonlinearity. The output light was efficiently coupled into the bi-tapered fiber sensor and good signal to noise was achieved across the wavelength region. The bi-tapered fiber starts and ends with a single mode fiber in the waist region there are many modes with different propagation constants that couple to the environment outside the fiber. The signals have a strong periodic component as the wavelength is scanned; we exploit the periodicity in the signal using a discrete Fourier transform analysis to correlate signal phase changes with the refractive index changes in the local environment. For small index changes we also measure a strong correlation with the dominant Fourier amplitude component. Our experiments show that our phase-based signal processing technique works well at shorter wavelengths and we extract a new feature, the Fourier amplitude, to measure the refractive index difference. We conducted experiments using aqueous medium with

  6. Portable evanescent wave fiber biosensor for highly sensitive detection of Shigella

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xiao, Rui; Rong, Zhen; Long, Feng; Liu, Qiqi

    2014-11-01

    A portable evanescent wave fiber biosensor was developed to achieve the rapid and highly sensitive detection of Shigella. In this study, a DNA probe was covalently immobilized onto fiber-optic biosensors that can hybridize with a fluorescently labeled complementary DNA. The sensitivity of detection for synthesized oligonucleotides can reach 10-10 M. The surface of the sensor can be regenerated with 0.5% sodium dodecyl sulfate solution (pH 1.9) for over 30 times without significant deterioration of performance. The total analysis time for a single sample, including the time for measurement and surface regeneration, was less than 6 min. We employed real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and compared the results of both methods to investigate the actual Shigella DNA detection capability of the fiber-optic biosensor. The fiber-optic biosensor could detect as low as 102 colony-forming unit/mL Shigella. This finding was comparable with that by real-time PCR, which suggests that this method is a potential alternative to existing detection methods.

  7. Leakage of the fundamental mode in photonic crystal fiber tapers.

    PubMed

    Nguyen, Hong C; Kuhlmey, Boris T; Steel, Michael J; Smith, Cameron L; Mägi, Eric C; McPhedran, Ross C; Eggleton, Benjamin J

    2005-05-15

    We report detailed measurements of the optical properties of tapered photonic crystal fibers (PCFs). We observe a striking long-wavelength loss as the fiber diameter is reduced, despite the minimal airhole collapse along the taper. We associate this loss with a transition of the fundamental core mode as the fiber dimensions contract: At wavelengths shorter than this transition wavelength, the core mode is strongly confined in the fiber microstructure, whereas at longer wavelengths the mode expands beyond the microstructure and couples out to higher-order modes. These experimental results are discussed in the context of the so-called fundamental mode cutoff described by Kuhlmey et al. [Opt. Express 10, 1285 (2002)], which apply to PCFs with a finite microstructure.

  8. Supercontinuum generation in an imaging fiber taper

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shi, Kebin; Omenetto, Fiorenzo G.; Liu, Zhiwen

    2006-12-01

    We report on supercontinuum generation in individual fibers of a commercial Schott imaging fiber taper. Supercontinuum spectrum covering a wavelength range from about 500 nm to 1 μm was obtained. Unlike conventional approaches which use either a single micro-structured photonic crystal fiber (PCF) or an individual fiber or PCF taper, the availability of many fibers in an imaging taper can open new possibilities to independently and controllably generate supercontinuum arrays.

  9. Double-clad fiber with a tapered end for confocal endomicroscopy

    PubMed Central

    Lemire-Renaud, Simon; Strupler, Mathias; Benboujja, Fouzi; Godbout, Nicolas; Boudoux, Caroline

    2011-01-01

    We present a double-clad fiber coupler (DCFC) for use in confocal endomicroscopy to reduce speckle contrast, increase signal collection while preserving optical sectioning. The DCFC is made by incorporating a double-clad tapered fiber (DCTF) to a fused-tapered DCFC for achromatic transmission (from 1265 nm to 1325 nm) of > 95% illumination light trough the single mode (SM) core and collection of > 40% diffuse light through inner cladding modes. Its potential for confocal endomicroscopy is demonstrated in a spectrally-encoded imaging setup which shows a 3 times reduction in speckle contrast as well as 5.5 × increase in signal collection compared to imaging with a SM fiber. PMID:22076259

  10. Double-clad fiber with a tapered end for confocal endomicroscopy.

    PubMed

    Lemire-Renaud, Simon; Strupler, Mathias; Benboujja, Fouzi; Godbout, Nicolas; Boudoux, Caroline

    2011-11-01

    We present a double-clad fiber coupler (DCFC) for use in confocal endomicroscopy to reduce speckle contrast, increase signal collection while preserving optical sectioning. The DCFC is made by incorporating a double-clad tapered fiber (DCTF) to a fused-tapered DCFC for achromatic transmission (from 1265 nm to 1325 nm) of > 95% illumination light trough the single mode (SM) core and collection of > 40% diffuse light through inner cladding modes. Its potential for confocal endomicroscopy is demonstrated in a spectrally-encoded imaging setup which shows a 3 times reduction in speckle contrast as well as 5.5 × increase in signal collection compared to imaging with a SM fiber.

  11. Development and study the performance of PBA cladding modified fiber optic intrinsic biosensor for urea detection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Botewad, S. N.; Pahurkar, V. G.; Muley, G. G.

    2016-05-01

    The fabrication and study of a cladding modified fiber optic intrinsic urea biosensor based on evanescent wave absorbance has been presented. The sensor was prepared using cladding modification technique by removing a small portion of cladding of an optical fiber and modifying with an active cladding of porous polyaniline-boric acid (PBA) matrix to immobilize enzyme-urease through cross-linking via glutaraldehyde. The nature of as-synthesized and deposited PBA film on fiber optic sensing element was studied by ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The performance of the developed sensor was studied for different urea concentrations in solutions prepared in phosphate buffer.

  12. Development and Testing of a Plastic Optical Fiber Grating Biosensor for Detection of Glucose in the Blood

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yunianto, M.; Eka, D.; Permata, A. N.; Ariningrum, D.; Wahyuningsih, S.; Marzuki, A.

    2017-02-01

    The objective of this study is to detect glucose content in human blood serum using optical fiber grating with LED wavelength corresponding to the absorption of glucose content in blood serum. The testing used a UV-Vis spectrometer and Rays spectrometers, in which in the ray spectrometer it was used optical fiber biosensor using optical fiber grating. The result obtained is the typical peak of glucose absorption in UV-Vis at 581 nm wavelength and rays spectrometer on green LED at 514.2 nm wavelength with linear regression result by 0.97 and 0.94, respectively.

  13. A fiber optic biosensor for fluorimetric detection of triple-helical DNA.

    PubMed

    Uddin, A H; Piunno, P A; Hudson, R H; Damha, M J; Krull, U J

    1997-10-15

    A fiber optic biosensor was used for the fluorimetric detection of T/AT triple-helical DNA formation. The surfaces of two sets of fused silica optical fibers were functionalized with hexaethylene oxide linkers from which decaadenylic acid oligonucleotides were grown in the 3'to 5'and 5'to 3'direction, respectively, using a DNA synthesizer. Fluorescence studies of hybridization showed unequivocal hybridization between oligomers immobilized on the fibers and complementary oligonucleotides from the solution phase, as detected by fluorescence from intercalated ethidium bromide. The complementary oligonucleotide, dT10, which was expected to Watson-Crick hybridize upon cooling the system below the duplex melting temperature ( T m), provided a fluorescence intensity with a negative temperature coefficient. Upon further cooling, to the point where the pyrimidine motif T*AT triple-helix formation occurred, a fluorescence intensity change with a positive temperature coefficient was observed. The reverse-Hoogsteen T.AT triplex, which is known to form with branched nucleic acids, provided a corresponding decrease in fluorescence intensity with decreasing temperature. Full analytical signal evolution was attainable in minutes.

  14. Development and study the performance of PBA cladding modified fiber optic intrinsic biosensor for urea detection

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Botewad, S. N.; Pahurkar, V. G.; Muley, G. G., E-mail: gajananggm@yahoo.co.in

    2016-05-06

    The fabrication and study of a cladding modified fiber optic intrinsic urea biosensor based on evanescent wave absorbance has been presented. The sensor was prepared using cladding modification technique by removing a small portion of cladding of an optical fiber and modifying with an active cladding of porous polyaniline-boric acid (PBA) matrix to immobilize enzyme-urease through cross-linking via glutaraldehyde. The nature of as-synthesized and deposited PBA film on fiber optic sensing element was studied by ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The performance of the developed sensor was studied for different urea concentrations in solutions prepared in phosphatemore » buffer.« less

  15. Radiation Losses Due to Tapering of a Double-Core Optical Waveguide

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lyons, Donald R.; Khet, Myat; Pencil, Eric (Technical Monitor)

    2001-01-01

    The theoretical model we designed parameterizes the power losses as a function of .the profile shape for a tapered, single mode, optical dielectric coupler. The focus of this project is to produce a working model that determines the power losses experienced by the fibers when light crosses a taper region. This phenomenon can be examined using coupled mode theory. The optical directional coupler consists of a parallel, dual-channel, waveguide with minimal spacing between the channels to permit energy exchange. Thus, power transfer is essentially a function of the taper profile. To find the fields in the fibers, the approach used was that of solving the Helmholtz equation in cylindrical coordinates involving Bessel and modified Bessel functions depending on the location.

  16. Low-temperature sensitivity periodically tapered photonic crystal-fiber-based refractometer.

    PubMed

    Wang, Pengfei; Bo, Lin; Guan, Chunying; Semenova, Yuliya; Wu, Qiang; Brambilla, Gilberto; Farrell, Gerald

    2013-10-01

    In this Letter, an all-fiber refractometer with a simple configuration of periodical tapers on a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) is proposed and investigated experimentally. The proposed fiber refractive index (RI) sensor consists of a PCF sandwiched between two standard single-mode fibers, with tapers periodically fabricated along the PCF using a CO(2) laser beam focused by a ZnSe cylindrical lens. The proposed fiber sensor can be used for RI sensing by measuring the wavelength shift of the multimode interference dip over the transmission spectrum. An average sensitivity of 222 nm/RIU has been experimentally achieved over a RI range from 1.33 to 1.38. The proposed refractometer is also significantly less sensitive to temperature, and an experimental demonstration of this reduced sensitivity is presented. The proposed RI sensor benefits from simplicity and low-cost and achieves a competitive sensitivity compared with other existing fiber-optic sensors.

  17. An optical fiber taper fluorescent probe for detection of nitro-explosives based on tetraphenylethylene with aggregation-induced emission

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Fukun; Cui, Minxin; Ma, Jiajun; Zou, Gang; Zhang, Qijin

    2017-07-01

    In this work, we report a novel optical fiber taper fluorescent probe for detection of nitro-explosives. The probe was fabricated by an in-situ photo-plating through evanescent wave and transmitted light initiated thiol-ene ;click; reaction, from which a cross-linked fluorescence porous polymer film was covalently bonded on the surface of the fiber taper. The film exhibits well-organized porous structure due to the presence of polyhedral oligomeric vinylsilsesquioxane moieties, and simultaneously displays strong fluorescence from tetraphenylethylene with aggregation-induced emission property. These two characters make the probe show a remarkable sensitivity, anti-photo-bleaching and a repeatability in detection of TNT and DNT vapors by fluorescence quenching. In addition, the detection is not interfered in the presence of other volatile organic gases.

  18. Coupling Single-Mode Fiber to Uniform and Symmetrically Tapered Thin-Film Waveguide Structures Using Gadolinium Gallium Garnet

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gadi, Jagannath; Yalamanchili, Raj; Shahid, Mohammad

    1995-01-01

    The need for high efficiency components has grown significantly due to the expanding role of fiber optic communications for various applications. Integrated optics is in a state of metamorphosis and there are many problems awaiting solutions. One of the main problems being the lack of a simple and efficient method of coupling single-mode fibers to thin-film devices for integrated optics. In this paper, optical coupling between a single-mode fiber and a uniform and tapered thin-film waveguide is theoretically modeled and analyzed. A novel tapered structure presented in this paper is shown to produce perfect match for power transfer.

  19. The wavelength-tunable tapered surface plasmon resonance fiber sensor based on separated input-output channels

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Shimeng; Liu, Yun; Gao, Xiaotong; Liu, Xiuxin; Peng, Wei

    2014-11-01

    We present a wavelength-tunable tapered optics fiber surface Plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor by polishing the end faces of multimode fibers(MMF).Two hard plastic clad optical fibers joint closely and are used as the light input and output channels. Their end faces are polished to produce two oblique planes, which are coated with gold film to be the sensing surface and the front mirror. The presence of the tapered geometry formed by the two oblique planes in the orthogonal directions makes it possible to adjust incident angle through changing the tilt angles of the two end faces, so as to achieve tuning the SPR coupling wavelength-angle pair. Compared with previous researches based a tapered optic fiber probe, we report the approach theoretically increase the signal noise ratio (SNR) by separating incident and emergent light propagating in the different coordinate fiber. Since fabricating the sensing surface and the front mirror on the two fibers to replace one single fiber tip, there is more incident light can reach the sensing surface and satisfy SPR effective. In addition, this improvement in structure has advantages of large grinding and sensing area, which can lead to high sensitivity and simple manufacture process of the sensor. Experimental measurement demonstrates the sensor has a favorable SPR resonanceabsorption and the ability of measuring refractive index (RI) of aqueous solution. This novel tapered SPR sensor has the potential to be applied to the biological sensing field.

  20. Optical biosensors.

    PubMed

    Damborský, Pavel; Švitel, Juraj; Katrlík, Jaroslav

    2016-06-30

    Optical biosensors represent the most common type of biosensor. Here we provide a brief classification, a description of underlying principles of operation and their bioanalytical applications. The main focus is placed on the most widely used optical biosensors which are surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based biosensors including SPR imaging and localized SPR. In addition, other optical biosensor systems are described, such as evanescent wave fluorescence and bioluminescent optical fibre biosensors, as well as interferometric, ellipsometric and reflectometric interference spectroscopy and surface-enhanced Raman scattering biosensors. The optical biosensors discussed here allow the sensitive and selective detection of a wide range of analytes including viruses, toxins, drugs, antibodies, tumour biomarkers and tumour cells. © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society.

  1. Thulium fiber laser induced vapor bubbles using bare, tapered, ball, hollow steel, and muzzle brake fiber optic tips

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gonzalez, David A.; Hardy, Luke A.; Hutchens, Thomas C.; Irby, Pierce B.; Fried, Nathaniel M.

    2018-02-01

    This study characterizes laser-induced vapor bubbles for five distal fiber optic tip configurations, to provide insight into stone retropulsion experienced during laser ablation of kidney stones. A TFL with 1908-nm wavelength delivered 34 mJ energy per pulse at 500-μs pulse duration through five different fibers: 100-μm-core/170-μm-OD bare fiber tip, 150-μm- to 300-μm-core tapered fiber tip, 100-μm-core/300-μm-OD ball tip fiber, 100-μm-core/340- μm-OD hollow steel tip fiber, and 100-μm-core/560-μm-OD muzzle brake fiber tip. A high speed camera with 10- μm spatial and 9.5-μs temporal resolution imaged vapor bubble dynamics. A needle hydrophone measured pressure transients in forward (0°) and side (90°) directions while placed at a 6.8 +/- 0.4 mm distance from fiber tip. Maximum bubble dimensions (width/length) averaged 0.7/1.5, 1.0/1.6, 0.5/1.1, 0.8/1.9, and 0.7/1.5 mm, for bare, tapered, ball, hollow steel, and muzzle tips, respectively (n=5). The hollow steel tip exhibited the most elongated vapor bubble shape, translating into increased forward pressure in this study and consistent with higher stone retropulsion in previous reports. Relative pressures (a.u.) in (forward/side) directions averaged 1.7/1.6, 2.0/2.0, 1.4/1.2, 6.8/1.1, and 0.3/1.2, for each fiber tip (n=5). For hollow steel tip, forward pressure was 4× higher than for bare fiber. For the muzzle brake fiber tip, forward pressure was 5× lower than for bare fiber. Bubble dimensions and pressure measurements demonstrated that the muzzle tip reduced forward pressure by partially venting vapors through side holes, consistent with lower stone retropulsion observed in previous reports.

  2. Fiber up-tapering and down-tapering for low-loss coupling between anti-resonant hollow-core fiber and solid-core fiber

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Naiqian; Wang, Zefeng; Xi, Xiaoming

    2017-10-01

    In this paper, we demonstrate a novel method for the low-loss coupling between solid-core multi-mode fibers (MMFs) and anti-resonant hollow-core fibers (AR-HCFs). The core/cladding diameter of the MMF is 50/125μm and the mode field diameter of the AR-HCFs are 33.3μm and 71.2μm of the ice-cream type AR-HCFs and the non-node type ARHCFs, respectively. In order to match the mode field diameters of these two specific AR-HCFs, the mode field diameter of the MMFs is increased or decreased by up-tapering or down-tapering the MMFs. Then, according to the principle of coupled fiber mode matching, the optimal diameter of tapered fiber for low-loss coupling is calculated. Based on beam propagation method, the calculated coupling losses without tapering process are 0.31dB and 0.89dB, respectively for a MMF-HCF-MMF structure of the ice-cream type AR-HCFs and the non-node type AR-HCFs. These values can be reduced to 0.096dB and 0.047dB when the outer diameters of the MMF are down-tapered to 116μm and up-tapered to 269μm, respectively. What's more, these results can also be verified by existing experiments.

  3. Fast detection of humidity with a subwavelength-diameter fiber taper coated with gelatin film.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Lei; Gu, Fuxing; Lou, Jingyi; Yin, Xuefeng; Tong, Limin

    2008-08-18

    A subwavelength-diameter tapered optical fiber coated with gelatin layer for fast relative humidity (RH) sensing is reported. The sensing element is composed of a 680-nm-diameter fiber taper coated with a 80-nm-thickness 8-mm-length gelatin layer, and is operated at a wavelength of 1550 nm. When exposed to moisture, the change in refractive index of the gelatin layer changes the mode field of the guided mode of the coated fiber, and converts a portion of power from guided mode to radiation mode, resulting in RH-dependent loss for optical sensing. The sensor is operated within a wide humidity range (9-94% RH) with high sensitivity and good reversibility. Measured response time is about 70 ms, which is one or two orders of magnitude faster than other types of RH sensors relying on conventional optical fibers or films.

  4. Tapered fiber based high power random laser.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Hanwei; Du, Xueyuan; Zhou, Pu; Wang, Xiaolin; Xu, Xiaojun

    2016-04-18

    We propose a novel high power random fiber laser (RFL) based on tapered fiber. It can overcome the power scaling limitation of RFL while maintaining good beam quality to a certain extent. An output power of 26.5 W has been achieved in a half-open cavity with one kilometer long tapered fiber whose core diameter gradually changes from 8 μm to 20 μm. The steady-state light propagation equations have been modified by taking into account the effective core area to demonstrate the tapered RFL through numerical calculations. The numerical model effectively describes the power characteristics of the tapered fiber based RFL, and both the calculating and experimental results show higher power exporting potential compared with the conventional single mode RFL.

  5. Sensitivity control of optical fiber biosensors utilizing turnaround point long period gratings with self-assembled polymer coatings

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gifford, Erika; Wang, Z.; Ramachandran, S.; Heflin, J. R.

    2007-09-01

    Ionic self-assembled multilayers (ISAMs) adsorbed on long period fiber gratings (LPGs) can serve as an inexpensive, robust, portable, biosensor platform. The ISAM technique is a layer-by-layer deposition technique that creates thin films on the nanoscale level. The combination of ISAMs with LPGs yields exceptional sensitivity of the optical fiber transmission spectrum. We have shown theoretically that the resonant wavelength shift for a thin-film coated LPG can be caused by the variation of the film's refractive index and/or the variation of the thickness of the film. We have experimentally demonstrated that the deposition of nm-thick ISAM films on LPGs induces shifts in the resonant wavelength of > 1.6 nm per nm of thin film. It has also been shown that the sensitivity of the LPG to the thickness of the ISAM film increases with increased film thickness. We have further demonstrated that ISAM-coated LPGs can function effectively as biosensors by using the biotin-streptavidin system and by using the Bacillus anthracis (Anthrax) antibody- PA (Protective Antigen) system. Experiments have been successfully performed in both air and solution, which illustrates the versatility of the biosensor. The results confirm that ISAM-LPGs yield a reusable, thermally-stable, and robust platform for designing and building efficient optical biosensors.

  6. About the role of phase matching between a coated microsphere and a tapered fiber: experimental study.

    PubMed

    Ristić, Davor; Rasoloniaina, Alphonse; Chiappini, Andrea; Féron, Patrice; Pelli, Stefano; Conti, Gualtiero Nunzi; Ivanda, Mile; Righini, Giancarlo C; Cibiel, Gilles; Ferrari, Maurizio

    2013-09-09

    Coatings of spherical optical microresonators are widely employed for different applications. Here the effect of the thickness of a homogeneous coating layer on the coupling of light from a tapered fiber to a coated microsphere has been studied. Spherical silica microresonators were coated using a 70SiO(2)- 30HfO(2) glass doped with 0.3 mol% Er(3+) ions. The coupling of a 1480 nm pump laser inside the sphere has been assessed using a tapered optical fiber and observing the 1530-1580 nm Er(3+) emission outcoupled to the same tapered fiber. The measurements were done for different coating thicknesses and compared with theoretical calculations to understand the relationship of the detected signal with the whispering gallery mode electric field profiles.

  7. Fabrication of longitudinally arbitrary shaped fiber tapers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nold, J.; Plötner, M.; Böhme, S.; Sattler, B.; deVries, O.; Schreiber, T.; Eberhardt, R.; Tünnermann, A.

    2018-02-01

    We present our current results on the fabrication of arbitrary shaped fiber tapers on our tapering rig using a CO2-laser as heat source. Single mode excitation of multimode fibers as well as changing the fiber geometry in an LPG-like fashion is presented. It is shown that this setup allows for reproducible fabrication of single-mode excitation tapers to extract the fundamental mode (M2 < 1.1) from a 30 μm core having an NA of 0.09.

  8. Thulium fiber laser-induced vapor bubble dynamics using bare, tapered, ball, hollow steel, and muzzle brake fiber optic tips

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gonzalez, David A.; Hardy, Luke A.; Hutchens, Thomas C.; Irby, Pierce B.; Fried, Nathaniel M.

    2018-03-01

    This study characterizes laser-induced vapor bubble dynamics for five different distal fiber optic tip configurations, to provide insight into stone retropulsion commonly experienced during laser ablation of kidney stones. A thulium fiber laser with 1908-nm wavelength delivered 34-mJ energy per pulse at 500-μs pulse duration through five different fibers such as 100-μm-core / 170-μm-OD bare fiber tip, 150- to 300-μm-core tapered fiber tip, 100-μm-core / 300-μm-OD ball tip fiber, 100-μm-core / 340-μm-OD hollow steel tip fiber, and 100-μm-core / 560-μm-OD muzzle brake fiber tip. A high-speed camera with 10-μm-spatial and 9.5-μs-temporal resolution was used to image the vapor bubble dynamics. A needle hydrophone measured pressure transients in the forward (0 deg) and side (90 deg) directions while placed at a 6.8 ± 0.4 mm distance from the distal fiber tip. Maximum bubble dimensions (width/length) averaged 0.7/1.5, 1.0/1.6, 0.5/1.1, 0.8/1.9, and 0.7 / 1.5 mm, for bare, tapered, ball, hollow steel, and muzzle brake fiber tips, respectively (n = 5). The hollow steel tip exhibited the most elongated vapor bubble shape, translating into increased forward pressure in this study and consistent with higher stone retropulsion in previous reports. Relative pressures (a.u.) in (forward/side) directions averaged 1.7/1.6, 2.0/2.0, 1.4/1.2, 6.8/1.1, and 0.3/1.2, for each fiber tip (n = 5). For the hollow steel tip, forward pressure was 4 × higher than for the bare fiber. For the muzzle brake fiber tip, forward pressure was 5 × lower than the bare fiber. Bubble dimensions and pressure measurements demonstrated that the muzzle brake fiber tip reduced forward pressure by partially venting vapors through the portholes, which is consistent with the observation of lower stone retropulsion in previous reports.

  9. Fabrication of polyaniline-HCl cladding modified fiber optic intrinsic biosensor for glucose detection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pahurkar, Vikas; Tamgadge, Yuoraj; Muley, Gajanan

    2016-05-01

    In the present study, we have fabricated and studied response of cladding modified fiber optic intrinsic glucose biosensor (FOIGB). The optical fiber was used as a light transforming waveguide and sensing element fabricated over it by applying a thin layer of polymer. The cladding of the sensor was modified with the polyaniline-hydrochloric acid (PANI-HCl) polymer matrix. The PANI-HCl matrix provides an amorphous morphology useful to immobilize glucose oxidase (GOx) biomolecules through cross-linking technique via glutaraldehyde. The present sensor was used to detect the glucose analyte in the solution. In the sensing response study of FOIGB toward glucose, novel modal power distribution (MPD) technique was used. The reaction between GOx and glucose changes the optical properties of prepared FOIGB and hence modify MPD at output as a function of glucose concentration. The nature and surface morphology of PANI-HCl matrix has been studied.

  10. Long-period grating fabricated by periodically tapering standard single-mode fiber.

    PubMed

    Shao, Li-Yang; Zhao, Jian; Dong, Xinyong; Tam, H Y; Lu, C; He, Sailing

    2008-04-01

    We fabricated an asymmetric long-period grating (LPG) by periodically tapering a section of standard single-mode fiber using a resistive filament heating. The LPG exhibits large peak transmission attenuation of -30.31 dB with only 22 periods in a 1.0 cm long optical fiber and possesses unique characteristics for sensing applications. The bending and strain sensitivities are 1.74 nm m and 1.11 pm/mu epsilon, respectively. The polarization dependent loss is large, up to 11.65 dB, which is caused by an asymmetric index profile in the cross section of the tapered LPG.

  11. High finesse microfiber knot resonators made from double-ended tapered fibers.

    PubMed

    Xiao, Limin; Birks, T A

    2011-04-01

    We fabricated optical microfiber knot resonators from thin tapered fibers (diameter down to 1 μm) linked to untapered fiber at both ends. We demonstrated a finesse of about 100, over twice as high as previously reported for microfiber resonators. Low-loss encapsulation of microfiber knot resonators in hydrophobic silica aerogel was also investigated.

  12. A refractive index sensor based on taper Michelson interferometer in multimode fiber

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fu, Xinghu; Zhang, Jiangpeng; Wang, Siwen; Fu, Guangwei; Liu, Qiang; Jin, Wa; Bi, Weihong

    2016-11-01

    A refractive index sensor based on taper Michelson interferometer in multimode fiber is proposed. The Hydrofluoric acid corrosion processing is studied in the preparation of single cone multimode optical fiber sensor. The taper Michelson interferometer is fabricated by changing corrosion time. The relationship between fiber sensor feature and corrosion time is analyzed. The experimental results show that the interference spectrum shift in the direction of short wave with the increase of the refractive index. The refractive index sensitivity can reach 115.8008 nm/RIU. Thereby, it can be used in detecting the refractive index in different areas including the environmental protection, health care and food production.

  13. Room temperature ammonia sensing using tapered multimode fiber coated with polyaniline nanofibers.

    PubMed

    Ibrahim, S A; Rahman, N A; Abu Bakar, M H; Girei, S H; Yaacob, M H; Ahmad, H; Mahdi, M A

    2015-02-09

    We demonstrate an ammonia sensor composed of a tapered multimode fiber coated with polyaniline nanofibers that operates at room temperature (26°C). The optical properties of the polyaniline layer changes when it is exposed to ammonia, leading to a change in the absorption of evanescent field. The fiber sensor was tested by exposing it to ammonia at different concentrations and the absorbance is measured using a spectrophotometer system. Measured response and recovery times are about 2.27 minutes and 9.73 minutes, respectively. The sensor sensitivity can be controlled by adjusting the tapered fiber diameter and the highest sensitivity is achieved when the diameter is reduced to 20 µm.

  14. High-sensitivity refractive index sensors based on fused tapered photonic crystal fiber

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fu, Xing-hu; Xie, Hai-yang; Yang, Chuan-qing; Qu, Yu-wei; Zhang, Shun-yang; Fu, Guang-wei; Guo, Xuan; Bi, Wei-hong

    2016-05-01

    In this paper, a novel liquid refractive index (RI) sensor based on fused tapered photonic crystal fiber (PCF) is proposed. It is fabricated by fusing and tapering a section of PCF which is spliced with two single-mode fibers (SMFs). Due to the fused biconical taper method, the sensor becomes longer and thinner, to make the change of the outside RI has more direct effects on the internal optical field of the PCF, which finally enhances the sensitivity of this sensor. Experimental results show that the transmission spectra of the sensor are red-shifted obviously with the increase of RI. The longer the tapered region of the sensor, the higher the sensitivity is. This sensor has the advantages of simple structure, easy fabrication, high performance and so on, so it has potential applications in RI measurement.

  15. Optical power-based interrogation of plasmonic tilted fiber Bragg grating biosensors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    González-Vila, Á.; Lopez-Aldaba, A.; Kinet, D.; Mégret, P.; Lopez-Amo, M.; Caucheteur, C.

    2017-04-01

    Two interrogation techniques for plasmonic tilted fiber Bragg grating sensors are reported and experimentally tested. Typical interrogation methods are usually based on tracking the wavelength shift of the most sensitive cladding mode, but for biosensing applications, spectrometer-based methods can be replaced by more efficient solutions. The proposed techniques thus rely on the measurement of the induced changes in optical power. The first one consists of a properly polarized tunable laser source set to emit at the wavelength of the sensor most sensitive mode and an optical power meter to measure the transmitted response. For the second method, a uniform fiber Bragg grating is photo-inscribed beyond the sensor in such a way that its central wavelength matches the sensor most sensitive mode, acting as an optical filter. Using a LED source, light reflected backwards by this grating is partially attenuated when passing through the sensor due to plasmon wave excitation and the power changes are quantified once again with an optical power meter. A performance analysis of the techniques is carried out and they both result competitive interrogation solutions. The work thus focuses on the development of cost-effective alternatives for monitoring this kind of biosensors in practical situations.

  16. Optical fiber loops and helices: tools for integrated photonic device characterization and microfluidic trapping

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ren, Yundong; Zhang, Rui; Ti, Chaoyang; Liu, Yuxiang

    2016-09-01

    Tapered optical fibers can deliver guided light into and carry light out of micro/nanoscale systems with low loss and high spatial resolution, which makes them ideal tools in integrated photonics and microfluidics. Special geometries of tapered fibers are desired for probing monolithic devices in plane as well as optical manipulation of micro particles in fluids. However, for many specially shaped tapered fibers, it remains a challenge to fabricate them in a straightforward, controllable, and repeatable way. In this work, we fabricated and characterized two special geometries of tapered optical fibers, namely fiber loops and helices, that could be switched between one and the other. The fiber loops in this work are distinct from previous ones in terms of their superior mechanical stability and high optical quality factors in air, thanks to a post-annealing process. We experimentally measured an intrinsic optical quality factor of 32,500 and a finesse of 137 from a fiber loop. A fiber helix was used to characterize a monolithic cavity optomechanical device. Moreover, a microfluidic "roller coaster" was demonstrated, where microscale particles in water were optically trapped and transported by a fiber helix. Tapered fiber loops and helices can find various applications ranging from on-the-fly characterization of integrated photonic devices to particle manipulation and sorting in microfluidics.

  17. Multiplex and simultaneous measurement of displacement and temperature using tapered fiber and fiber Bragg grating.

    PubMed

    Ji, Chongke; Zhao, Chun-Liu; Kang, Juan; Dong, Xinyong; Jin, Shangzhong

    2012-05-01

    A simple method to work out the multiplexing of tapered fiber based sensors is proposed and demonstrated. By cascading a tapered fiber with a fiber Bragg grating (FBG), the sensor head is provided with a wavelength identification, different FBGs provide the sensor heads with different reflective peaks and they can be distinguished in optical spectrum. By compositing several such sensor heads with a multi-channel beam splitter, a star-style topological structure sensor for multipoint sensing is achieved. At the same time, the output intensity at the peak wavelength is sensitive to one external physical parameter applied on the related FBG-cascaded tapered fiber and the central wavelength of the peak is only sensitive to temperature, so that that parameter and temperature can be measured simultaneously. A sensor for dual-point measurement of the displacement and temperature simultaneously is experimentally demonstrated by using a 2 × 2 coupler in this paper. Experiment results show that the sensor works well and the largest sensitivities reach to 0.11 dB/μm for displacement in the range of 0-400 μm, and ∼0.0097 nm/°C for temperature between 20 °C and 70 °C.

  18. Carbon nanotube/polymer composite coated tapered fiber for four wave mixing based wavelength conversion.

    PubMed

    Xu, Bo; Omura, Mika; Takiguchi, Masato; Martinez, Amos; Ishigure, Takaaki; Yamashita, Shinji; Kuga, Takahiro

    2013-02-11

    In this paper, we demonstrate a nonlinear optical device based on a fiber taper coated with a carbon nanotube (CNT)/polymer composite. Using this device, four wave mixing (FWM) based wavelength conversion of 10 Gb/s Non-return-to-zero signal is achieved. In addition, we investigate wavelength tuning, two photon absorption and estimate the effective nonlinear coefficient of the CNTs embedded in the tapered fiber to be 1816.8 W(-1)km(-1).

  19. Tapered fibers embedded in silica aerogel.

    PubMed

    Xiao, Limin; Grogan, Michael D W; Leon-Saval, Sergio G; Williams, Rhys; England, Richard; Wadsworth, Willam J; Birks, Tim A

    2009-09-15

    We have embedded thin tapered fibers (with diameters down to 1 microm) in silica aerogel with low loss. The aerogel is rigid but behaves refractively like air, protecting the taper without disturbing light propagation along it. This enables a new class of fiber devices exploiting volume evanescent interactions with the aerogel itself or with dopants or gases in the pores.

  20. pH-based fiber optic biosensors for use in clinical and biotechnological applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mueller, Cord; Hitzmann, Bernd; Schubert, Florian; Scheper, Thomas

    1995-05-01

    The development of pH-based fiber optic biosensors and their uses in clinical and biotechnological applications are described. Based on a pH-sensitive optode, different biosensors for urea, penicillin, glucose and creatinine were developed. A multichannel modular fluorimeter was used to measure signals from up to three optodes simultaneously. The pH value and the buffer capacity are critical factors for biosensors based on pH probes and influence the biosensor signal. A flow injection analysis (FIA) system is used to eliminate the latter influences. With this integrated system, samples can be analyzed sequentially by the injection of a defined volume of each sample into a continuously flowing buffer stream that transports the samples to the sensors. The complex signal is transformed and analyzed by a computer system. Characteristic features of the FIA peak give information about the buffer capacity in the solution. With the help of intelligent computing (neural networks) it is possible to recognize these features and relate them to the respective buffer capacity to obtain more accurate values. Various applications of these biosensors are discussed. The pH optode is also used to monitor enzymatic reactions in non aqueous solvents. In this case the production of acetic acid can be detected on line.

  1. Evanescent-wave photoacoustic spectroscopy with optical micro/nano fibers.

    PubMed

    Cao, Yingchun; Jin, Wei; Ho, Lut Hoi; Liu, Zhibo

    2012-01-15

    We demonstrate gas detection based on evanescent-wave photoacoustic (PA) spectroscopy with tapered optical fibers. Evanescent-field instead of open-path absorption is exploited for PA generation, and a quartz tuning fork is used for PA detection. A tapered optical fiber with a diameter down to the wavelength scale demonstrates detection sensitivity similar to an open-path system but with the advantages of easier optical alignment, smaller insertion loss, and multiplexing capability.

  2. Fiber optic evanescent wave biosensor

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Duveneck, Gert L.; Ehrat, Markus; Widmer, H. M.

    1991-09-01

    The role of modern analytical chemistry is not restricted to quality control and environmental surveillance, but has been extended to process control using on-line analytical techniques. Besides industrial applications, highly specific, ultra-sensitive biochemical analysis becomes increasingly important as a diagnostic tool, both in central clinical laboratories and in the doctor's office. Fiber optic sensor technology can fulfill many of the requirements for both types of applications. As an example, the experimental arrangement of a fiber optic sensor for biochemical affinity assays is presented. The evanescent electromagnetic field, associated with a light ray guided in an optical fiber, is used for the excitation of luminescence labels attached to the biomolecules in solution to be analyzed. Due to the small penetration depth of the evanescent field into the medium, the generation of luminescence is restricted to the close proximity of the fiber, where, e.g., the luminescent analyte molecules combine with their affinity partners, which are immobilized on the fiber. Both cw- and pulsed light excitation can be used in evanescent wave sensor technology, enabling the on-line observation of an affinity assay on a macroscopic time scale (seconds and minutes), as well as on a microscopic, molecular time scale (nanoseconds or microseconds).

  3. Fiber Volume Fraction Influence on Fiber Compaction in Tapered Resin Injection Pultrusion Manufacturing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Masuram, N. B.; Roux, J. A.; Jeswani, A. L.

    2016-06-01

    Liquid resin is injected into the tapered injection chamber through the injection slots to completely wetout the fiber reinforcements in a resin injection pultrusion process. As the resin penetrates through the fibers, the resin also pushes the fibers away from the wall towards the centerline causing compaction of the fiber reinforcements. The fibers are squeezed together due to compaction, making resin penetration more difficult; thus higher resin injection pressures are required to effectively penetrate through the fibers and achieve complete wetout. Fiber volume fraction in the final pultruded composite is a key to decide the mechanical and/or chemical properties of the composite. If the fiber volume fraction is too high, more fibers are squeezed together creating a fiber lean region near the wall and fiber rich region away from the wall. Also, the design of the injection chamber significantly affects the minimum injection pressure required to completely wet the fibers. A tapered injection chamber is considered such that wetout occurs at lower injection pressures due to the taper angle of the injection chamber. In this study, the effect of fiber volume fraction on the fiber reinforcement compaction and complete fiber wetout for a tapered injection chamber is investigated.

  4. U-shaped, double-tapered, fiber-optic sensor for effective biofilm growth monitoring

    PubMed Central

    Zhong, Nianbing; Zhao, Mingfu; Li, Yishan

    2016-01-01

    To monitor biofilm growth on polydimethylsiloxane in a photobioreactor effectively, the biofilm cells and liquids were separated and measured using a sensor with two U-shaped, double-tapered, fiber-optic probes (Sen. and Ref. probes). The probes’ Au-coated hemispherical tips enabled double-pass evanescent field absorption. The Sen. probe sensed the cells and liquids inside the biofilm. The polyimide–silica hybrid-film-coated Ref. probe separated the liquids from the biofilm cells and analyzed the liquid concentration. The biofilm structure and active biomass were also examined to confirm the effectiveness of the measurement using a simulation model. The sensor was found to effectively respond to the biofilm growth in the adsorption through exponential phases at thicknesses of 0–536 μm. PMID:26977344

  5. U-shaped, double-tapered, fiber-optic sensor for effective biofilm growth monitoring.

    PubMed

    Zhong, Nianbing; Zhao, Mingfu; Li, Yishan

    2016-02-01

    To monitor biofilm growth on polydimethylsiloxane in a photobioreactor effectively, the biofilm cells and liquids were separated and measured using a sensor with two U-shaped, double-tapered, fiber-optic probes (Sen. and Ref. probes). The probes' Au-coated hemispherical tips enabled double-pass evanescent field absorption. The Sen. probe sensed the cells and liquids inside the biofilm. The polyimide-silica hybrid-film-coated Ref. probe separated the liquids from the biofilm cells and analyzed the liquid concentration. The biofilm structure and active biomass were also examined to confirm the effectiveness of the measurement using a simulation model. The sensor was found to effectively respond to the biofilm growth in the adsorption through exponential phases at thicknesses of 0-536 μm.

  6. Experimental observation of breathing solitons and a third harmonic in a tapered photonic crystal fiber

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, F.; Yao, C. F.; Li, C. Z.; Jia, Z. X.; Li, Q.; Wu, C. F.; Ohishi, Y.; Qin, W. P.; Qin, G. S.

    2018-02-01

    We report the experimental observation of breathing solitons and a third harmonic in a tapered fluorotellurite photonic crystal fiber (PCF) pumped by a 1560 nm femtosecond fiber laser. The PCF has a core diameter that varies continuously along its length, resulting in a zero-dispersion wavelength that moves from 1325 nm to 906 nm over the transition region. By finely controlling the dispersion map of the tapered PCF and increasing the order of the optical solitons, their breathing behavior is observed in the frequency domain and the number of breaths goes up to 9. Furthermore, the breathing behavior of the optical soliton is transferred to the third harmonic through inter-modal phase-matched processes in the tapered PCF, and the third harmonic also breathes with an increase in the pump power.

  7. Microstructured Optical Fiber-based Biosensors: Reversible and Nanoliter-Scale Measurement of Zinc Ions.

    PubMed

    Heng, Sabrina; McDevitt, Christopher A; Kostecki, Roman; Morey, Jacqueline R; Eijkelkamp, Bart A; Ebendorff-Heidepriem, Heike; Monro, Tanya M; Abell, Andrew D

    2016-05-25

    Sensing platforms that allow rapid and efficient detection of metal ions would have applications in disease diagnosis and study, as well as environmental sensing. Here, we report the first microstructured optical fiber-based biosensor for the reversible and nanoliter-scale measurement of metal ions. Specifically, a photoswitchable spiropyran Zn(2+) sensor is incorporated within the microenvironment of a liposome attached to microstructured optical fibers (exposed-core and suspended-core microstructured optical fibers). Both fiber-based platforms retains high selectivity of ion binding associated with a small molecule sensor, while also allowing nanoliter volume sampling and on/off switching. We have demonstrated that multiple measurements can be made on a single sample without the need to change the sensor. The ability of the new sensing platform to sense Zn(2+) in pleural lavage and nasopharynx of mice was compared to that of established ion sensing methodologies such as inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and a commercially available fluorophore (Fluozin-3), where the optical-fiber-based sensor provides a significant advantage in that it allows the use of nanoliter (nL) sampling when compared to ICP-MS (mL) and FluoZin-3 (μL). This work paves the way to a generic approach for developing surface-based ion sensors using a range of sensor molecules, which can be attached to a surface without the need for its chemical modification and presents an opportunity for the development of new and highly specific ion sensors for real time sensing applications.

  8. Nonadiabatic tapered optical fiber sensor for measuring interaction nicotine with DNA

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zibaii, M. I.; Latifi, H.; Pourbeyram, H.; Gholami, M.; Taghipour, Z.; Saeedian, Z.; Hosseini, S. M.

    2011-05-01

    A nonadiabatic tapered optical fiber sensor was utilized for studying of bimolecular interactions including DNA-DNA and DNA-Drug interaction. This work presents a simple evanescent wave sensing system based on an interferometric approach, suitable to meet the requirements of lable-free sensor systems for detecting biomolecular interactions. We have demonstrated the measuring refractive index and the real time detection of interactions between biomolecules. Furthermore basic experiments were carried out, for detecting the hybridization of 25-mer DNA with an immobilized counterpart on the surface. The overall shift after the successful DNA hybridization was 9.5 nm. In this work, a new approach for studying DNA-drug interactions was successfully tested. Nicotine as a carcinogenic compound in cigarette smoke plays an important role in interaction with DNA. Different concentrations of nicotine were applied to observe the Longmuir interaction with DNA.

  9. Influence of depressed-index outer ring on evanescent tunneling loss in tapered double-cladding fibers.

    PubMed

    Chen, Nan-Kuang; Hsu, Kuei-Chu; Liaw, Shien-Kuei; Lai, Yinchieh; Chi, Sien

    2008-08-01

    A tapered fiber with a depressed-index outer ring is fabricated and dispersion engineered to generate a widely tunable (1250-1650 nm) fundamental-mode leakage loss with a high cutoff slope (-1.2 dB/nm) and a high attenuation for stop band (>50 dB) by modification of both waveguide and material dispersions. The higher cutoff slope is achieved with a larger cross angle between the two refractive index dispersion curves of the tapered fiber and surrounding optical liquids through the use of depressed-index outer ring structures in double-cladding fibers.

  10. Femtomolar Detection by Nanocoated Fiber Label-Free Biosensors.

    PubMed

    Chiavaioli, Francesco; Zubiate, Pablo; Del Villar, Ignacio; Zamarreño, Carlos R; Giannetti, Ambra; Tombelli, Sara; Trono, Cosimo; Arregui, Francisco J; Matias, Ignacio R; Baldini, Francesco

    2018-05-25

    The advent of optical fiber-based biosensors combined with that of nanotechnologies has provided an opportunity for developing in situ, portable, lightweight, versatile, and high-performance optical sensing platforms. We report on the generation of lossy mode resonances by the deposition of nanometer-thick metal oxide films on optical fibers, which makes it possible to measure precisely and accurately the changes in optical properties of the fiber-surrounding medium with very high sensitivity compared to other technology platforms, such as long period gratings or surface plasmon resonances, the gold standard in label-free and real-time biomolecular interaction analysis. This property, combined with the application of specialty structures such as D-shaped fibers, permits enhancing the light-matter interaction. SEM and TEM imaging together with X-EDS tool have been utilized to characterize the two films used, i.e., indium tin oxide and tin dioxide. Moreover, the experimental transmission spectra obtained after the deposition of the nanocoatings have been numerically corroborated by means of wave propagation methods. With the use of a conventional wavelength interrogation system and ad hoc developed microfluidics, the shift of the lossy mode resonance can be reliably recorded in response to very low analyte concentrations. Repeated experiments confirm a big leap in performance thanks to the capability to detect femtomolar concentrations in human serum, improving the detection limit by 3 orders of magnitude when compared with other fiber-based configurations. The biosensor has been regenerated several times by injecting sodium dodecyl sulfate, which proves the capability of sensor to be reused.

  11. An evanescent wave biosensor--Part I: Fluorescent signal acquisition from step-etched fiber optic probes.

    PubMed

    Anderson, G P; Golden, J P; Ligler, F S

    1994-06-01

    A fiber-optic biosensor capable of remote continuous monitoring has recently been designed. To permit sensing at locations separate from the optoelectronic instrumentation, long optical fibers are utilized. An evanescent wave immuno-probe is prepared by removing the cladding near the distal end of the fiber and covalently attaching antibodies to the core. Probes with a radius unaltered from that of the original core inefficiently returned the signal produced upon binding the fluorescent-labelled antigen. To elucidate the limiting factors in signal acquisition, a series of fibers with increasingly reduced probe core radius was examined. The results were consistent with the V-number mismatch, the difference in mode carrying capacity between the clad and unclad fiber, being a critical factor in limiting signal coupling from the fiber probe. However, it was also delineated that conditions which conserve excitation power, such that power in the evanescent wave is optimized, must also be met to obtain a maximal signal. The threshold sensitivity for the optimal step-etched fiber probe was improved by over 20-fold in an immunoassay, although, it was demonstrated that signal acquisition decreased along the probe length, suggesting that a sensor region of uniform radius is not ideal.

  12. Tapered fiber optic applicator for laser ablation: Theoretical and experimental assessment of thermal effects on ex vivo model.

    PubMed

    Saccomandi, P; Di Matteo, F M; Schena, E; Quero, G; Massaroni, C; Giurazza, F; Costamagna, G; Silvestri, S

    2017-07-01

    Laser Ablation (LA) is a minimally invasive technique for tumor removal. The laser light is guided into the target tissue by a fiber optic applicator; thus the physical features of the applicator tip strongly influence size and shape of the tissue lesion. This study aims to verify the geometry of the lesion achieved by a tapered-tip applicator, and to investigate the percentage of thermally damaged cells induced by the tapered-tip fiber optic applicator. A theoretical model was implemented to simulate: i) the distribution of laser light fluence rate in the tissue through Monte Carlo method, ii) the induced temperature distribution, by means of the Bio Heat Equation, iii) the tissue injury, by Arrhenius integral. The results obtained by the implementation of the theoretical model were experimentally assessed. Ex vivo porcine liver underwent LA with tapered-tip applicator, at different laser settings (laser power of 1 W and 1.7 W, deposited energy equal to 330 J and 500 J, respectively). Almost spherical volume lesions were produced. The thermal damage was assessed by measuring the diameter of the circular-shaped lesion. The comparison between experimental results and theoretical prediction shows that the thermal damage discriminated by visual inspection always corresponds to a percentage of damaged cells of 96%. A tapered-tip applicator allows obtaining localized and reproducible damage close to spherical shape, whose diameter is related to the laser settings, and the simple theoretical model described is suitable to predict the effects, in terms of thermal damage, on ex vivo liver. Further trials should be addressed to adapt the model also on in vivo tissue, aiming to develop a tool useful to support the physician in clinical application of LA.

  13. Critical Coupling Between Optical Fibers and WGM Resonators

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Matsko, Andrey; Maleki, Lute; Itchenko, Vladimir; Savchenkov, Anatoliy

    2009-01-01

    Two recipes for ensuring critical coupling between a single-mode optical fiber and a whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) optical resonator have been devised. The recipes provide for phase matching and aperture matching, both of which are necessary for efficient coupling. There is also a provision for suppressing intermodal coupling, which is detrimental because it drains energy from desired modes into undesired ones. According to one recipe, the tip of the single-mode optical fiber is either tapered in diameter or tapered in effective diameter by virtue of being cleaved at an oblique angle. The effective index of refraction and the phase velocity at a given position along the taper depend on the diameter (or effective diameter) and the index of refraction of the bulk fiber material. As the diameter (or effective diameter) decreases with decreasing distance from the tip, the effective index of refraction also decreases. Critical coupling and phase matching can be achieved by placing the optical fiber and the resonator in contact at the proper point along the taper. This recipe is subject to the limitation that the attainable effective index of refraction lies between the indices of refraction of the bulk fiber material and the atmosphere or vacuum to which the resonator and fiber are exposed. The other recipe involves a refinement of the previously developed technique of prism coupling, in which the light beam from the optical fiber is collimated and focused onto one surface of a prism that has an index of refraction greater than that of the resonator. Another surface of the prism is placed in contact with the resonator. The various components are arranged so that the collimated beam is focused at the prism/resonator contact spot. The recipe includes the following additional provisions:

  14. Fabrication and characterization of optical-fiber nanoprobes for scanning near-field optical microscopy.

    PubMed

    Essaidi, N; Chen, Y; Kottler, V; Cambril, E; Mayeux, C; Ronarch, N; Vieu, C

    1998-02-01

    The current scanning near-field optical microscopy has been developed with optical-fiber probes obtained by use of either laser-heated pulling or chemical etching. For high-resolution near-field imaging, the detected signal is rapidly attenuated as the aperture size of the probe decreases. It is thus important to fabricate probes optimized for both spot size and optical transmission. We present a two-step fabrication that allowed us to achieve an improved performance of the optical-fiber probes. Initially, a CO(2) laser-heated pulling was used to produce a parabolic transitional taper ending with a top thin filament. Then, a rapid chemical etching with 50% buffered hydrofluoric acid was used to remove the thin filament and to result in a final conical tip on the top of the parabolic transitional taper. Systematically, we obtained optical-fiber nanoprobes with the apex size as small as 10 nm and the final cone angle varying from 15 degrees to 80 degrees . It was found that the optical transmission efficiency increases rapidly as the taper angle increases from 15 degrees to 50 degrees , but a further increase in the taper angle gives rise to important broadening of the spot size. Finally, the fabricated nanoprobes were used in photon-scanning tunneling microscopy, which allowed observation of etched double lines and grating structures with periods as small as 200 nm.

  15. Ultraviolet, visible, and infrared laser delivery using laser-to-fiber coupling via a grazing-incidence-based hollow taper

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ilev, Ilko K.; Waynant, Ronald W.

    2001-01-01

    We present a novel all-optical-waveguide method for ultraviolet (UV), visible (VIS) and infrared (IR) laser delivery including a lens-free method of laser-to-fiber coupling using a simple uncoated glass hollow taper. Based on the grazing incidence effect, the hollow taper provides a way of direct launching, without any intermediate focusing elements, high power laser radiation into delivery fibers. Because of the mutual action of the nearly parallel laser excitation, the mode coupling process, and mode filtering effect, the hollow taper serves as a mode converter that transforms the highly multimode profile of the input laser emission into a high-quality Gaussian-shaped profile at the taper output. When the grazing incidence effect of the taper is applied to laser delivery, the maintenance of high reflectance coefficients in a wide spectral region allows to utilize the same uncoated hollow taper for laser radiation in the UV, VIS and IR ranges. Applying the experimental hollow-taper based delivery systems, we obtain high laser- to-taper and taper-to-fiber coupling efficiencies.

  16. Studies of geometrical profiling in fabricated tapered optical fibers using whispering gallery modes spectroscopy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kavungal, Vishnu; Farrell, Gerald; Wu, Qiang; Kumar Mallik, Arun; Semenova, Yuliya

    2018-03-01

    This paper experimentally demonstrates a method for geometrical profiling of asymmetries in fabricated thin microfiber tapers with waist diameters ranging from ∼10 to ∼50 μm with submicron accuracy. The method is based on the analysis of whispering gallery mode resonances excited in cylindrical fiber resonators as a result of evanescent coupling of light propagating through the fiber taper. The submicron accuracy of the proposed method has been verified by SEM studies. The method can be applied as a quality control tool in fabrication of microfiber based devices and sensors or for fine-tuning of microfiber fabrication set-ups.

  17. Optical fiber sensors measurement system and special fibers improvement

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jelinek, Michal; Hrabina, Jan; Hola, Miroslava; Hucl, Vaclav; Cizek, Martin; Rerucha, Simon; Lazar, Josef; Mikel, Bretislav

    2017-06-01

    We present method for the improvement of the measurement accuracy in the optical frequency spectra measurements based on tunable optical filters. The optical filter was used during the design and realization of the measurement system for the inspection of the fiber Bragg gratings. The system incorporates a reference block for the compensation of environmental influences, an interferometric verification subsystem and a PC - based control software implemented in LabView. The preliminary experimental verification of the measurement principle and the measurement system functionality were carried out on a testing rig with a specially prepared concrete console in the UJV Řež. The presented system is the laboratory version of the special nuclear power plant containment shape deformation measurement system which was installed in the power plant Temelin during last year. On the base of this research we started with preparation other optical fiber sensors to nuclear power plants measurement. These sensors will be based on the microstructured and polarization maintaining optical fibers. We started with development of new methods and techniques of the splicing and shaping optical fibers. We are able to made optical tapers from ultra-short called adiabatic with length around 400 um up to long tapers with length up to 6 millimeters. We developed new techniques of splicing standard Single Mode (SM) and Multimode (MM) optical fibers and splicing of optical fibers with different diameters in the wavelength range from 532 to 1550 nm. Together with development these techniques we prepared other techniques to splicing and shaping special optical fibers like as Polarization-Maintaining (PM) or hollow core Photonic Crystal Fiber (PCF) and theirs cross splicing methods with focus to minimalize backreflection and attenuation. The splicing special optical fibers especially PCF fibers with standard telecommunication and other SM fibers can be done by our developed techniques. Adjustment

  18. Microdroplet-etched highly birefringent low-loss fiber tapers.

    PubMed

    Mikkelsen, Jared C; Poon, Joyce K S

    2012-07-01

    We use hydrofluoric acid microdroplets to directly etch highly birefringent biconical fiber tapers from standard single-mode fibers. The fiber tapers have micrometer-sized cross sections, which are controlled by the etching condition. The characteristic teardrop cross section leads to a high group birefringence of B(G)≈0.017 and insertion losses <0.7 dB over waist lengths of about 2.1 mm.

  19. Temperature effect on refractive index sensing performance of a U-shape tapered plastic optical fiber

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Teng, Chuanxin; Yu, Fangda; Jing, Ning; Zheng, Jie

    2016-11-01

    The temperature dependence of a refractive index (RI) sensing probe based on a U-shape tapered plastic optical fiber (POF) was investigated experimentally. The changes in light propagation loss in the probe induced by temperature are of the same order of magnitude as those induced by measured RI changes. The temperature dependence loss and temperature dependence RI deviation of the sensing probe were measured (at the wavelength of 635 nm) in temperature of 10-60 °C. By extracting pure temperature dependence of the sensing probe alone, the influence of temperature to the sensor was characterized.

  20. An optical biosensor using MEMS-based V-grooves

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tian, Ye; Ma, Xiaodong; Zou, Xiaotian; Wu, Nan; Wang, Xingwei

    2011-05-01

    An optical fiber biosensor featuring miniaturization, electromagnetic interference (EMI)-immunity, and flexibility is presented. The sensor was fabricated by aligning two gold-deposited optical single-mode fiber facets inside V-grooves on a silicon chip to form a Fabry-Perot (FP) cavity. The mirrors on the fiber facets were made of deposited gold (Au) films, which provided a high finesse to produce a highly sensitivity. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) fabrication techniques were used to precisely control the profile and angle of the V-grooves on the silicon. The biotin-terminated thiol molecule was firstly immobilized on the gold surface. Subsequently, the molecules of Neutravidin were specifically bound to the biotin-terminated self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). The induced changes of cavity length and refractive index (RI) upon the gold surface lead to an optical path difference (OPD) of the FP cavity, which was detected by demodulating the transmission spectrum phase shift. By taking advantage of MEMS techniques, multiple biosensors can be integrated into one small silicon chip for detecting various biomolecule targets simultaneously.

  1. A sensitivity-enhanced refractive index sensor using a single-mode thin-core fiber incorporating an abrupt taper.

    PubMed

    Shi, Jie; Xiao, Shilin; Yi, Lilin; Bi, Meihua

    2012-01-01

    A sensitivity-enhanced fiber-optic refractive index (RI) sensor based on a tapered single-mode thin-core diameter fiber is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The sensor head is formed by splicing a section of tapered thin-core diameter fiber (TCF) between two sections of single-mode fibers (SMFs). The cladding modes are excited at the first SMF-TCF interface, and then interfere with the core mode at the second interface, thus forming an inter-modal interferometer (IMI). An abrupt taper (tens of micrometers long) made by the electric-arc-heating method is utilized, and plays an important role in improving sensing sensitivity. The whole manufacture process only involves fiber splicing and tapering, and all the fabrication process can be achieved by a commercial fiber fusion splicer. Using glycerol and water mixture solution as an example, the experimental results show that the refractive index sensitivity is measured to be 0.591 nm for 1% change of surrounding RI. The proposed sensor structure features simple structure, low cost, easy fabrication, and high sensitivity.

  2. Monitoring the fabrication of tapered optical fibres

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mullaney, K.; Correia, R.; Staines, S. E.; James, S. W.; Tatam, R. P.

    2017-04-01

    A variety of optical methods to enhance the process of making optical fibre tapers are explored. A thermal camera was used to both refine the alignment of the optical components and optimize the laser power profile during the tapering process. The fibre transmission was measured to verify that the tapers had the requisite optical characteristics while the strain experienced by the fibre while tapering was assessed using an optical fibre Bragg grating. Using these techniques, adiabatic tapers were fabricated with a 2% insertion loss.

  3. Vibration sensing using a tapered bend-insensitive fiber based Mach-Zehnder interferometer.

    PubMed

    Xu, Yanping; Lu, Ping; Qin, Zengguang; Harris, Jeremie; Baset, Farhana; Lu, Ping; Bhardwaj, Vedula Ravi; Bao, Xiaoyi

    2013-02-11

    In this study, a novel fiber-optic sensor consisting of a tapered bend-insensitive fiber based Mach-Zehnder interferometer is presented to realize damped and continuous vibration measurement. The double cladding structure and the central coating region of the in-fiber interferometer ensure an enhanced mechanical strength, reduced external disturbance, and a more uniform spectrum. A damped vibration frequency range of 29-60 Hz as well as continuous vibration disturbances ranging from 1 Hz up to 500 kHz are successfully demonstrated.

  4. Single mode variable-sensitivity fiber optic sensors

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Murphy, K. A.; Fogg, B. R.; Gunther, M. F.; Claus, R. O.

    1992-01-01

    We review spatially-weighted optical fiber sensors that filter specific vibration modes from one dimensional beams placed in clamped-free and clamped-clamped configurations. The sensitivity of the sensor is varied along the length of the fiber by tapering circular-core, dual-mode optical fibers. Selective vibration mode suppression on the order of 10 dB was obtained. We describe experimental results and propose future extensions to single mode sensor applications.

  5. Multimode Brillouin spectrum in a long tapered birefringent photonic crystal fiber.

    PubMed

    Tchahame, Joël Cabrel; Beugnot, Jean-Charles; Kudlinski, Alexandre; Sylvestre, Thibaut

    2015-09-15

    We investigate the stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in a long tapered birefringent solid-core photonic crystal fiber (PCF) and compare our results with a similar but untapered PCF. It is shown that the taper generates a broadband and multipeaked Brillouin spectrum, while significantly increasing the threshold power. Furthermore, we observe that the strong fiber birefringence gives rise to a frequency shift of the Brillouin spectrum which increases along the fiber. Numerical simulations are also presented to account for the taper effect and the birefringence. Our findings open a new means to control or inhibit the SBS by tapering photonic crystal fibers.

  6. Refractometric detection of liquids using tapered optical fiber and suspended core microstructured fiber: a comparison of methods.

    PubMed

    Martan, T; Nemecek, T; Komanec, M; Ahmad, R; Zvanovec, S

    2017-03-20

    Detecting explosive, flammable, or toxic industrial liquids reliably and accurately is a matter of civic responsibility that cannot be treated lightly. Tapered optical fibers (TOFs) and suspended core microstructured optical fibers (SC MOFs) were separately used as sensors of liquids without being compared to each other. We present a highly sensitive time-stable TOF sensor incorporated in the pipeline system for the in-line regime of measurement. This paper is furthermore focused on the comparison of this TOF and SC MOF of similar parameters for the detection of selected liquids. A validated method that incorporates TOF and SC MOF of small core (waist) diameter for refractometric detection is presented. The principle of detection is based on the overlap of an enhanced evanescent wave with a liquid analyte that either fills the cladding holes of the SC MOF or surrounds the waist area of the TOF. Optical power within the evanescent wave for both sensing structures and selected liquid analytes is analyzed. Measurement results concerning TOF and SC MOF are compared. Calculations to ascertain the limit of detection (LOD) for each sensor and the sensitivity (S) to refractive indices of liquid analytes in the range of 1.4269 to 1.4361 were performed at a wavelength of 1550 nm with the lowest refractive index step of 0.0007. Results affirming that S=600.96  dB/RIU and LOD=0.0733  RIU for the SC MOF and S=1143.2  dB/RIU and LOD of 0.0026 RIU for the TOF sensor were achieved, clearly illustrating that TOF-based sensors can reach close to two times greater sensitivity and 30 times higher limit of detection. This paper extends the comparison of the fiber sensors by discussing the potential applications.

  7. Development of As-Se tapered suspended-core fibers for ultra-broadband mid-IR wavelength conversion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Anashkina, E. A.; Shiryaev, V. S.; Koptev, M. Y.; Stepanov, B. S.; Muravyev, S. V.

    2018-01-01

    We designed and developed tapered suspended-core fibers of high-purity As39Se61 glass for supercontinuum generation in the mid-IR with a standard fiber laser pump source at 2 ${\\mu}$m. It was shown that microstructuring allows shifting a zero dispersion wavelength to the range shorter than 2 ${\\mu}$m in the fiber waist with a core diameter of about 1 ${\\mu}$m. In this case, supercontinuum generation in the 1-10 ${\\mu}$m range was obtained numerically with 150-fs 100-pJ pump pulses at 2 ${\\mu}$m. We also performed experiments on wavelength conversion of ultrashort optical pulses at 1.57 ${\\mu}$m from Er: fiber laser system in the manufactured As-Se tapered fibers. The measured broadening spectra were in a good agreement with the ones simulated numerically.

  8. Acoustic vibration sensor based on nonadiabatic tapered fibers.

    PubMed

    Xu, Ben; Li, Yi; Sun, Miao; Zhang, Zhen-Wei; Dong, Xin-Yong; Zhang, Zai-Xuan; Jin, Shang-Zhong

    2012-11-15

    A simple and low-cost vibration sensor based on single-mode nonadiabatic fiber tapers is proposed and demonstrated. The environmental vibrations can be detected by demodulating the transmission loss of the nonadiabatic fiber taper. Theoretical simulations show that the transmission loss is related to the microbending of the fiber taper induced by vibrations. Unlike interferometric sensors, this vibration sensor does not need any feedback loop to control the quadrature point to obtain a stable performance. In addition, it has no requirement for the coherence of the light source and is insensitive to temperature changes. Experimental results show that this sensing system has a wide frequency response range from a few hertz to tens of kilohertz with the maximal signal to noise ratio up to 73 dB.

  9. Tapered fluorotellurite microstructured fibers for broadband supercontinuum generation.

    PubMed

    Wang, Fang; Wang, Kangkang; Yao, Chuanfei; Jia, Zhixu; Wang, Shunbin; Wu, Changfeng; Qin, Guanshi; Ohishi, Yasutake; Qin, Weiping

    2016-02-01

    Fluorotellurite microstructured fibers (MFs) based on TeO2-BaF2-Y2O3 glasses are fabricated by using a rod-in-tube method. Tapered fluorotellurite MFs with varied transition region lengths are prepared by employing an elongation machine. By using a tapered fluorotellurite MF with a transition region length of ∼3.3  cm as the nonlinear medium and a 1560 nm femtosecond fiber laser as the pump source, broadband supercontinuum generation covering from 470 to 2770 nm is obtained. The effects of the transition region length of the tapered fluorotellurite MF on supercontinuum generation are also investigated. Our results show that tapered fluorotellurite MFs are promising nonlinear media for generating broadband supercontinuum light expanding from visible to mid-infrared spectral region.

  10. Enhanced Fano resonance in a non-adiabatic tapered fiber coupled with a microresonator.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Kun; Wang, Yue; Wu, Yi-Hui

    2017-08-01

    We achieved enhanced Fano resonance by coupling a bottle resonator with a special non-adiabatic tapered fiber, where there is a high intensity distribution ratio between high-order and fundamental modes in the tapered region, as well as single mode propagation in the waist region. The resonance line shape is theoretically proved to be related to the intensity distribution ratio of the two fiber modes and their phase shift. An enhanced Fano line shape with an extinction ratio over 15 dB is experimentally reached by improving the intensity distribution ratio and tuning the phase shift. The results can remarkably improve the sensitivity of whispering-gallery mode microresonators in the field of optical sensing.

  11. Mismatch Considerations in Excitation of Single-Mode Circular Core Parabolic Index Fiber by Laser Diode via Upside Down Tapered Hemispherical Microlens on the Tip of the Fiber

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Das, Bishuddhananda; Middya, Tapas Ranjan; Gangopadhyay, Sankar

    2017-12-01

    We report the theoretical investigation of the coupling optics involving laser diode to single-mode circular core parabolic index fiber via upside down tapered hemispherical microlens on the tip of the fiber in the presence of possible transverse and angular mismatches. Using the relevant ABCD matrix for such tapered hemispherical microlens, we formulate analytical expressions for the coupling efficiencies in the presence of the said two mismatches. Further, the transmitted spot size of the source via the hemispherical lens and the tapered region should match with the spot size of the fiber for obtaining maximum coupling. The investigations have been made for two practical wavelengths, namely 1.3 and 1.5 μm in order to find the tolerance of this coupling device with respect to the said kinds of mismatches at the concerned wavelengths. Although our simple method predicts the concerned coupling optics excellently, the evaluation of the concerned efficiencies and associated losses involve little computations. Thus this user-friendly technique and also the results found thereof will benefit the designers and packagers who are working in the field of optical technology.

  12. Performance improvement of optical fiber coupler with electric heating versus gas heating.

    PubMed

    Shuai, Cijun; Gao, Chengde; Nie, Yi; Peng, Shuping

    2010-08-20

    Gas heating has been widely used in the process of fused biconical tapering. However, as the instability and asymmetric flame temperature of gas heating exist, the performance of the optical devices fabricated by this method was affected. To overcome the problems resulting from gas combustion, an electric heater is designed and manufactured using a metal-ceramic (MoSi(2)) as a heating material. Our experimental data show that the fused-taper machine with an electric heater has improved the performance of optical devices by increasing the consistency of the extinction ratio, excess loss, and the splitting ratio over that of the previous gas heating mode. Microcrystallizations and microcracks were observed at the fused region of the polarization-maintaining (PM) fiber coupler and at the taper region with scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy respectively. The distribution of the microcrystallizations and microcracks are nonuniform along the fiber with gas heating, while their distribution is rather uniform with electric heating. These findings show that the novel optical fiber coupler with an electric heater has improved the performance of optical fiber devices by affecting the consistency of the optical parameters and micromorphology of the surface of PM fiber.

  13. Theoretical and experimental analysis of analyte transport in a fiber-optic, protein C immuno-biosensor.

    PubMed

    Tang, Liang; Kwon, Hyun J; Kang, Kyung A

    2004-12-30

    Protein C (PC) is an important anticoagulant in human blood plasma, and early diagnosis of PC deficiency is critical for preventing dangerous thromboembolic complications. A fiber-optic PC immuno-biosensor has been under development in our research group for real-time PC-deficiency diagnosis. The sensor has demonstrated a good sensitivity and specificity for quantifying PC in buffered solutions. However, for plasma samples, with a limited sample reaction time, the sensor produced only 30% of the signal intensity of PC in buffer. The high plasma viscosity (1.9 cP) was speculated as the major reason for signal intensity reduction. In this investigation, the sensing performance of the fiber-optic PC biosensor is systematically characterized in terms of physical and chemical properties of the sample media. Theoretical and experimental analyses indicate that the reduced diffusion rate of PC molecules in viscous samples caused the sensing system to be more mass-transfer-limited. Convective flow of sample/reagent solutions during immunoreactions can increase the rate of the analyte mass transport from the bulk solution to the sensor surface, with reaction kinetics changing from mass-transfer-limited to reaction-limited as flow velocity increases. It was shown that PC sensor performance was significantly improved for plasma samples with convection. The effect of the flow velocity and incubation times for samples and reagents on the sensor performance was also systematically analyzed to optimize the assay protocol for PC sensing. Currently, a 6-cm-long immuno-biosensor is capable of quantifying PC in plasma (1 mL) in the heterozygous PC deficiency range (0.5 to 2.5 microg/mL) within 5 minutes, at an average signal-to-noise ratio of 50. 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  14. Magnetic field tunability of optical microfiber taper integrated with ferrofluid.

    PubMed

    Miao, Yinping; Wu, Jixuan; Lin, Wei; Zhang, Kailiang; Yuan, Yujie; Song, Binbin; Zhang, Hao; Liu, Bo; Yao, Jianquan

    2013-12-02

    Optical microfiber taper has unique propagation properties, which provides versatile waveguide structure to design the tunable photonic devices. In this paper, the S-tapered microfiber is fabricated by using simple fusion spicing. The spectral characteristics of microfiber taper integrated with ferrofluid under different magnetic-field intensities have been theoretically analyzed and experimentally demonstrated. The spectrum are both found to become highly magnetic-field-dependent. The results indicate the transmission and wavelength of the dips are adjustable by changing magnetic field intensity. The response of this device to the magnetic field intensity exhibits a Langvin function. Moreover, there is a linear relationship between the transmission loss and magnetic field intensity for a magnetic field intensity range of 25 to 200Oe, and the sensitivities as high as 0.13056dB/Oe and 0.056nm/Oe have been achieved, respectively. This suggests a potential application of this device as a tunable all-in-fiber photonic device, such as magneto-optic modulator, filter, and sensing element.

  15. Towards a Uniform Metrological Assessment of Grating-Based Optical Fiber Sensors: From Refractometers to Biosensors

    PubMed Central

    Chiavaioli, Francesco; Gouveia, Carlos A. J.; Jorge, Pedro A. S.; Baldini, Francesco

    2017-01-01

    A metrological assessment of grating-based optical fiber sensors is proposed with the aim of providing an objective evaluation of the performance of this sensor category. Attention was focused on the most common parameters, used to describe the performance of both optical refractometers and biosensors, which encompassed sensitivity, with a distinction between volume or bulk sensitivity and surface sensitivity, resolution, response time, limit of detection, specificity (or selectivity), reusability (or regenerability) and some other parameters of generic interest, such as measurement uncertainty, accuracy, precision, stability, drift, repeatability and reproducibility. Clearly, the concepts discussed here can also be applied to any resonance-based sensor, thus providing the basis for an easier and direct performance comparison of a great number of sensors published in the literature up to now. In addition, common mistakes present in the literature made for the evaluation of sensor performance are highlighted, and lastly a uniform performance assessment is discussed and provided. Finally, some design strategies will be proposed to develop a grating-based optical fiber sensing scheme with improved performance. PMID:28635665

  16. Towards a Uniform Metrological Assessment of Grating-Based Optical Fiber Sensors: From Refractometers to Biosensors.

    PubMed

    Chiavaioli, Francesco; Gouveia, Carlos A J; Jorge, Pedro A S; Baldini, Francesco

    2017-06-21

    A metrological assessment of grating-based optical fiber sensors is proposed with the aim of providing an objective evaluation of the performance of this sensor category. Attention was focused on the most common parameters, used to describe the performance of both optical refractometers and biosensors, which encompassed sensitivity, with a distinction between volume or bulk sensitivity and surface sensitivity, resolution, response time, limit of detection, specificity (or selectivity), reusability (or regenerability) and some other parameters of generic interest, such as measurement uncertainty, accuracy, precision, stability, drift, repeatability and reproducibility. Clearly, the concepts discussed here can also be applied to any resonance-based sensor, thus providing the basis for an easier and direct performance comparison of a great number of sensors published in the literature up to now. In addition, common mistakes present in the literature made for the evaluation of sensor performance are highlighted, and lastly a uniform performance assessment is discussed and provided. Finally, some design strategies will be proposed to develop a grating-based optical fiber sensing scheme with improved performance.

  17. Tapered waveguides for guided wave optics.

    PubMed

    Campbell, J C

    1979-03-15

    Strip waveguides having half-paraboloid shaped tapers that permit efficient fiber to waveguide coupling have been fabricated by Ag ion exchange in soda-lime glass. A reduction in the input coupling loss has been accomplished by tailoring the diffusion to provide a gradual transition from a single-mode waveguide to a multimode waveguide having cross-sectional dimensions comparable to the core diameter of a single-mode fiber. Waveguides without tapers exhibit an attenuation of 1.0 dB/cm and an input coupling loss of 0.6 dB. The additional loss introduced by the tapered region is 0.5 dB. By way of contrast, an input coupling loss of 2.4 dB is obtained by coupling directly to a single-mode waveguide, indicating a net improvement of 1.3 dB for the tapered waveguides.

  18. Fiber-Optic Chemiluminescent Biosensors for Monitoring Aqueous Alcohols and Other Water Quality Parameters

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Verostko, Charles E. (Inventor); Atwater, James E. (Inventor); Akse, James R. (Inventor); DeHart, Jeffrey L. (Inventor); Wheeler, Richard R. (Inventor)

    1998-01-01

    A "reagentless" chemiluminescent biosensor and method for the determination of hydrogen peroxide, ethanol and D-glucose in water is disclosed. An aqueous stream is basified by passing it through a solid phase base bed. Luminol is then dissolved in the basified effluent at a controlled rate. Oxidation of the luminol is catalyzed by the target chemical to produce emitted light. The intensity of the emitted light is detected as a measure of the target chemical concentration in the aqueous stream. The emitted light can be transmitted by a fiber optic bundle to a remote location from the aqueous stream for a remote reading of the target chemical concentration.

  19. Tapered chalcogenide-tellurite hybrid microstructured fiber for mid-infrared supercontinuum generation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Peilong; Zhang, Peiqing; Dai, Shixun; Wu, Yuehao; Wang, Xunsi; Tao, Guangming; Nie, Qiuhua

    2015-05-01

    Fibers exhibiting flattened and decreasing dispersion are important in nonlinear applications. Such fibers are difficult to design, particularly in soft glass. In this work, we develop a preliminary design of a highly nonlinear tapered hybrid microstructured optical fiber (TH-MOF) with chalcogenide glass core and tellurite glass microstructure cladding. We then numerically studied its dispersion, loss, and nonlinearity-related optical properties under fundamental mode systematically using the infinitesimal method. The designed TH-MOF exhibits low chromatic dispersion that is similar to a convex function with two zero-dispersion wavelengths and decreases with fiber length from 2 to 5 μm band. The potential use of the TH-MOF in nonlinear applications is demonstrated numerically by a supercontinuum spectrum of 20 dB bandwidth covering 1.96-4.76 μm generated in 2-cm-long TH-MOF using near 3.25-μm fs-laser pump.

  20. Multimode interference tapered fiber refractive index sensors.

    PubMed

    Biazoli, Claudecir R; Silva, Susana; Franco, Marcos A R; Frazão, Orlando; Cordeiro, Cristiano M B

    2012-08-20

    Real-time monitoring of the fabrication process of tapering down a multimode-interference-based fiber structure is presented. The device is composed of a pure silica multimode fiber (MMF) with an initial 125 μm diameter spliced between two single-mode fibers. The process allows a thin MMF with adjustable parameters to obtain a high signal transmittance, arising from constructive interference among the guided modes at the output end of the MMF. Tapered structures with waist diameters as low as 55 μm were easily fabricated without the limitation of fragile splices or difficulty in controlling lateral fiber alignments. The sensing device is shown to be sensitive to the external environment, and a maximum sensitivity of 2946 nm/refractive index unit in the refractive index range of 1.42-1.43 was attained.

  1. Multiplex and simultaneous measurement of displacement and temperature using tapered fiber and fiber Bragg grating

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Ji Chongke; Zhao Chunliu; Kang Juan

    2012-05-15

    A simple method to work out the multiplexing of tapered fiber based sensors is proposed and demonstrated. By cascading a tapered fiber with a fiber Bragg grating (FBG), the sensor head is provided with a wavelength identification, different FBGs provide the sensor heads with different reflective peaks and they can be distinguished in optical spectrum. By compositing several such sensor heads with a multi-channel beam splitter, a star-style topological structure sensor for multipoint sensing is achieved. At the same time, the output intensity at the peak wavelength is sensitive to one external physical parameter applied on the related FBG-cascaded taperedmore » fiber and the central wavelength of the peak is only sensitive to temperature, so that that parameter and temperature can be measured simultaneously. A sensor for dual-point measurement of the displacement and temperature simultaneously is experimentally demonstrated by using a 2 x 2 coupler in this paper. Experiment results show that the sensor works well and the largest sensitivities reach to 0.11 dB/{mu}m for displacement in the range of 0-400 {mu}m, and {approx}0.0097 nm/ deg. C for temperature between 20 deg. C and 70 deg. C.« less

  2. Very low-loss passive fiber-to-chip coupling with tapered fibers.

    PubMed

    Paatzsch, T; Smaglinski, I; Abraham, M; Bauer, H D; Hempelmann, U; Neumann, G; Mrozynski, G; Kerndlmaier, W

    1997-07-20

    A novel passive fiber-to-chip coupling based on the use of fiber tapers embedded in a guiding structure is proposed. By beam-propagation calculations it is verified that this new coupling method exhibits a very low insertion loss. Major advantages of the proposed method compared with butt coupling are demonstrated by simulation results: first, tolerance requirements for the fibers, e.g., diameter variations and core eccentricity, and for fabrication of the alignment structure are reduced by at least 1 order of magnitude. Second, coupling to waveguides of nearly arbitrary dimensions and refractive indices seems to be possible. Experimental results on thermal drawing of fiber tapers are presented and used as input data for the simulations. A concept for fabrication of the new coupling method with the Lithographic Galvanik Abformung (LIGA) technique is presented.

  3. Ultra-low power, Zeno effect based optical modulation in a degenerate V-system with a tapered nano fiber in atomic vapor.

    PubMed

    Salit, K; Salit, M; Krishnamurthy, Subramanian; Wang, Y; Kumar, P; Shahriar, M S

    2011-11-07

    We demonstrate an ultra-low light level optical modulator using a tapered nano fiber embedded in a hot rubidium vapor. The control and signal beams are co-propagating but orthogonally polarized, leading to a degenerate V-system involving coherent superpositions of Zeeman sublevels. The modulation is due primarily to the quantum Zeno effect for the signal beam induced by the control beam. For a control power of 40 nW and a signal power of 100 pW, we observe near 100% modulation. The ultra-low power level needed for the modulation is due to a combination of the Zeno effect and the extreme field localization in the evanescent field around the taper.

  4. Nanosecond pulse shaping at 780 nm with fiber-based electro-optical modulators and a double-pass tapered amplifier

    DOE PAGES

    Rogers, III, C. E.; Gould, P. L.

    2016-02-01

    Here, we describe a system for generating frequency-chirped and amplitude-shaped pulses on time scales from sub-nanosecond to ten nanoseconds. The system starts with cw diode-laser light at 780 nm and utilizes fiber-based electro-optical phase and intensity modulators, driven by an arbitrary waveform generator, to generate the shaped pulses. These pulses are subsequently amplified to several hundred mW with a tapered amplifier in a delayed double-pass configuration. Frequency chirps up to 5 GHz in 2 ns and pulse widths as short as 0.15 ns have been realized.

  5. Nanosecond pulse shaping at 780 nm with fiber-based electro-optical modulators and a double-pass tapered amplifier.

    PubMed

    Rogers, C E; Gould, P L

    2016-02-08

    We describe a system for generating frequency-chirped and amplitude-shaped pulses on time scales from sub-nanosecond to ten nanoseconds. The system starts with cw diode-laser light at 780 nm and utilizes fiber-based electro-optical phase and intensity modulators, driven by an arbitrary waveform generator, to generate the shaped pulses. These pulses are subsequently amplified to several hundred mW with a tapered amplifier in a delayed double-pass configuration. Frequency chirps up to 5 GHz in 2 ns and pulse widths as short as 0.15 ns have been realized.

  6. The influence of temperature to a refractive index sensor based on a macro-bending tapered plastic optical fiber

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Teng, Chuan-xin; Yu, Fang-da; Jing, Ning; Zheng, Jie

    2016-09-01

    The temperature influence to a refractive index (RI) sensor based on a macro-bending tapered plastic optical fiber (POF) was investigated experimentally. The total temperature dependence loss (TDLtotal) and total temperature dependence RI deviation (TDRtotal) were measured at different temperature (10-60 °C) over an RI range of 1.33-1.41. The temperature dependence RI deviation of the sensor itself was obtained by subtracting the temperature dependence RI of measured liquid from TDRtotal. Therefore, the influence of temperature variation to the sensor was characterized and corrected.

  7. Evaluation of optical excitation conditions for ruthenium complex for biosensor optodes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pieper, Sean; Zhong, Zhong; Lear, Kevin L.; Reardon, Ken

    2007-03-01

    Development of a fiber optic biosensor incorporating genetically engineered enzymes which catalyze chlorinated ethenes in an oxygen-consuming reaction for in situ monitoring of groundwater contaminants motivates optimization of optode excitation conditions. These conditions affect the sensitivity, signal-to-noise, and optode service life impacting the quality of the overall biosensor. Optodes are generally comprised of a fluorophore conjugated with a polymer as a substrate cross linked at the distal end of a fiber optic. We investigate the excitation conditions of tris(4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline) ruthenium(II) chloride (Ru(dpp)3) conjugated with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH) as an optode. A reported advantage of Ru(dpp)3 is that it has no emission spectral shift occurring under varying chemical and environmental conditions. Photostability degradation due to photobleaching of Ru(dpp)3 with PVOH as a substrate is explored by varying the optical irradiance of the fluorophore containing optode. Other issues relating to practical implementation of Ru(dpp)3 as oxygen sensitive biosensors will be discussed.

  8. Technique for writing of fiber Bragg gratings over or near preliminary formed macro-structure defects in silica optical fibers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Evtushenko, Alexander S.; Faskhutdinov, Lenar M.; Kafarova, Anastasia M.; Kazakov, Vadim S.; Kuznetzov, Artem A.; Minaeva, Alina Yu.; Sevruk, Nikita L.; Nureev, Ilnur I.; Vasilets, Alexander A.; Andreev, Vladimir A.; Morozov, Oleg G.; Burdin, Vladimir A.; Bourdine, Anton V.

    2017-04-01

    This work presents method for performing precision macro-structure defects "tapers" and "up-tapers" written in conventional silica telecommunication multimode optical fibers by commercially available field fusion splicer with modified software settings and following writing fiber Bragg gratings over or near them. We developed technique for macrodefect geometry parameters estimation via analysis of photo-image performed after defect writing and displayed on fusion splicer screen. Some research results of defect geometry dependence on fusion current and fusion time values re-set in splicer program are represented that provided ability to choose their "the best" combination. Also experimental statistical researches concerned with "taper" and "up-taper" diameter stability as well as their insertion loss values during their writing under fixed corrected splicer program parameters were performed. We developed technique for FBG writing over or near macro-structure defect. Some results of spectral response measurements produced for short-length samples of multimode optical fiber with fiber Bragg gratings written over and near macro-defects prepared by using proposed technique are presented.

  9. Tunable thulium-doped fiber laser based on an abrupt-tapered in-fiber interferometer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hernández-Arriaga, M. V.; Durán-Sánchez, M.; Ibarra-Escamilla, B.; Álvarez-Tamayo, R. I.; Santiago-Hernández, H.; Bello-Jiménez, M.; Kuzin, E. A.

    2017-11-01

    An experimental study of an all-fiber tunable thulium-doped fiber laser based on an abrupt-tapered in-fiber interferometer is presented. A microfiber filter with length of 6 mm and diameter of 20 μm is used to achieve single laser wavelength tuning in a range of 19.4 nm and dual-wavelength laser operation at 1761.8 and 1793.4 nm with a channel spacing of 31.6 nm. The abrupt-tapered structure allows multi-modal interference at the air-cladding interface. The proposed in-fiber interferometer exhibits characteristics of low cost and simple fabrication, making it suitable for practical applications in wavelength filtering and wavelength selection in all-fiber lasers.

  10. Passively Q-switched wavelength-tunable 1-μm fiber lasers with tapered-fiber-based black phosphorus saturable absorbers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Song, Huaqing; Wang, Qi; Wang, Dongdong; Li, Li

    2018-03-01

    In this paper, we demonstrated passively Q-switched wavelength-tunable 1-μm fiber lasers utilizing few-layer black phosphorus saturable absorbers. The few-layer BP was deposited onto the tapered fibers by an optically driven process. The wavelength tunability was achieved with a fiber Sagnac loop comprised of a piece of polarization maintaining fiber and a polarization controller. Stable Q-switching laser operations were observed at wavelengths ranging from 1040.5 to 1044.6 nm at threshold pump power of 220 mW. Maximal pulse energy of 141.27 nJ at a repetition rate of 63 kHz was recorded under pump power of 445 mW.

  11. Principles and performance of tapered fiber lasers: from uniform to flared geometry.

    PubMed

    Kerttula, Juho; Filippov, Valery; Chamorovskii, Yuri; Ustimchik, Vasily; Golant, Konstantin; Okhotnikov, Oleg G

    2012-10-10

    We have studied the recently demonstrated concept of fiber lasers based on active tapered double-clad fiber (T-DCF) in copropagating and counterpropagating configurations, both theoretically and experimentally, and compared the performance to fiber lasers based on conventional cylindrical fibers in end-pumped configurations. Specific properties of T-DCFs were considered theoretically using a rate-equation model developed for tapered fibers, and a detailed comparative study was carried out experimentally. Furthermore, we have studied mode coupling effects in long adiabatic tapers due to coiling and local bending. The results allow us to conclude that, with proper fiber design, the T-DCF technology offers a high-potential alternative for bright, cost-effective fiber devices.

  12. Serum protein measurement using a tapered fluorescent fibre-optic evanescent wave-based biosensor

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Preejith, P. V.; Lim, C. S.; Chia, T. F.

    2006-12-01

    A novel method to measure the total serum protein concentration is described in this paper. The method is based on the principles of fibre-optic evanescent wave spectroscopy. The biosensor applies a fluorescent dye-immobilized porous glass coating on a multi-mode optical fibre. The evanescent wave's intensity at the fibre-optic core-cladding interface is used to monitor the protein-induced changes in the sensor element. The sensor offers a rapid, single-step method for quantifying protein concentrations without destroying the sample. This unique sensing method presents a sensitive and accurate platform for the quantification of protein.

  13. Fabrication of an Optical Fiber Micro-Sphere with a Diameter of Several Tens of Micrometers.

    PubMed

    Yu, Huijuan; Huang, Qiangxian; Zhao, Jian

    2014-06-25

    A new method to fabricate an integrated optical fiber micro-sphere with a diameter within 100 µm, based on the optical fiber tapering technique and the Taguchi method is proposed. Using a 125 µm diameter single-mode (SM) optical fiber, an optical fiber taper with a cone angle is formed with the tapering technique, and the fabrication optimization of a micro-sphere with a diameter of less than 100 µm is achieved using the Taguchi method. The optimum combination of process factors levels is obtained, and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of three quality evaluation parameters and the significance of each process factors influencing them are selected as the two standards. Using the minimum zone method (MZM) to evaluate the quality of the fabricated optical fiber micro-sphere, a three-dimensional (3D) numerical fitting image of its surface profile and the true sphericity are subsequently realized. From the results, an optical fiber micro-sphere with a two-dimensional (2D) diameter less than 80 µm, 2D roundness error less than 0.70 µm, 2D offset distance between the micro-sphere center and the fiber stylus central line less than 0.65 µm, and true sphericity of about 0.5 µm, is fabricated.

  14. Red-green-blue (RGB) light generator using tapered fiber pumped with a frequency-doubled Yb-fiber laser.

    PubMed

    Rusu, M; Kivistö, Samuli; Gawith, C; Okhotnikov, O

    2005-10-17

    We report on successful realization of a picosecond visible-continuum source embedding a single mode fiber taper. The output of ytterbium mode-locked fiber laser was frequency doubled in a periodically-polled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystal to produce green pump light. Spectral brightness of the white light generated in the tapered fiber was improved by limiting the broadening just to the visible wavelengths. The influence of taper parameters, particularly the dispersion, on white light spectrum has been studied.

  15. Red-green-blue (RGB) light generator using tapered fiber pumped with a frequency-doubled Yb-fiber laser

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rusu, M.; Kivistö, Samuli; Gawith, C. B. E.; Okhotnikov, O. G.

    2005-10-01

    We report on successful realization of a picosecond visible-continuum source embedding a single mode fiber taper. The output of ytterbium mode-locked fiber laser was frequency doubled in a periodically-polled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystal to produce green pump light. Spectral brightness of the white light generated in the tapered fiber was improved by limiting the broadening just to the visible wavelengths. The influence of taper parameters, particularly the dispersion, on white light spectrum has been studied.

  16. Enlarged-taper tailored Fiber Bragg grating with polyvinyl alcohol coating for humidity sensing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liang, Yanhong; Yan, Guofeng; He, Sailing

    2015-08-01

    In this paper, a novel optical fiber sensor based on an enlarged-taper tailored fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated for the measurement of relative humidity. The enlarged-taper works as a multifunctional joint that not only excites cladding modes but also recouples the cladding modes reflected by the FBG back into the leading single mode fiber. Due to the fact that cladding modes have a strong evanescent field penetrating into the ambient medium, the intensity of the reflected cladding modes is greatly influenced by the refractive index (RI) of the ambient medium. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) film is plated on the fiber surface by dip-coating technique, as a humidity-to-refractive index transducer, whose RI variance from 1.49 to 1.34 when the ambient humidity increases from 20%RH to 95%RH. The relative humidity response of the sensing structure is investigated in our home-made humidity chamber with a commercial hygrometer. By monitoring the intensity of the reflected cladding modes, the RH variance can be demodulated. Experimental results show that RH sensitivity depends on the RH value, and a sensitivity up to 1.2 dB/%RH can be achieved within the RH range of 30-90%. A fast and reversible time response has also been investigated. Such a probe-type and reusable fiber-optic RH sensor is a very promising technology for biochemical sensing applications, e.g., breath analysis, chemical reaction monitoring.

  17. Refractive index sensors based on the fused tapered special multi-mode fiber

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fu, Xing-hu; Xiu, Yan-li; Liu, Qin; Xie, Hai-yang; Yang, Chuan-qing; Zhang, Shun-yang; Fu, Guang-wei; Bi, Wei-hong

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, a novel refractive index (RI) sensor is proposed based on the fused tapered special multi-mode fiber (SMMF). Firstly, a section of SMMF is spliced between two single-mode fibers (SMFs). Then, the SMMF is processed by a fused tapering machine, and a tapered fiber structure is fabricated. Finally, a fused tapered SMMF sensor is obtained for measuring external RI. The RI sensing mechanism of tapered SMMF sensor is analyzed in detail. For different fused tapering lengths, the experimental results show that the RI sensitivity can be up to 444.517 81 nm/RIU in the RI range of 1.334 9—1.347 0. The RI sensitivity is increased with the increase of fused tapering length. Moreover, it has many advantages, including high sensitivity, compact structure, fast response and wide application range. So it can be used to measure the solution concentration in the fields of biochemistry, health care and food processing.

  18. Halting the fuse discharge propagation using optical fiber microwires.

    PubMed

    Rocha, A M; Fernandes, G; Domingues, F; Niehus, M; Pinto, A N; Facão, M; André, P S

    2012-09-10

    We report and analyze the halting of the fuse effect propagation in optical fiber microwires. The increase of the mode field diameter in the tapered region decreases the optical intensity resulting in the extinction of the fuse effect. This fiber element presents a low insertion loss and can be introduced in the optical network in order to protect the active equipment from the damage caused by the fuse effect.

  19. Single and low order mode interrogation of a multimode sapphire fiber Bragg grating sensor with tapered fibers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Grobnic, Dan; Mihailov, Stephen J.; Ding, H.; Bilodeau, F.; Smelser, Christopher W.

    2005-05-01

    Multimode sapphire fiber Bragg gratings (SFBG) made with an IR femtosecond laser and a phase mask were probed using tapered single mode fibers of different taper diameters producing single and low order mode reflection/transmission responses. A configuration made of an input single mode tapered fiber and multimode silica fiber used for output coupling was also tested and has delivered a filtered multimode transmission spectrum. The tapered coupling improved the spectral resolution of the SFBG as compared to its multimode responses previously reported. Such improvements facilitate the utilization of the SFBG as a high temperature sensor. Wavelength shifts of the single mode response were monitored as a function of temperature up to 1500 °C and were consistent with the measurement obtained from the multimode response published previously.

  20. Fusion splice between tapered inhibited coupling hypocycloid-core Kagome fiber and SMF.

    PubMed

    Zheng, Ximeng; Debord, Benoît; Vincetti, Luca; Beaudou, Benoît; Gérôme, Frédéric; Benabid, Fetah

    2016-06-27

    We report for the first time on tapering inhibited coupling (IC) hypocycloid-core shape Kagome hollow-core photonic crystal fibers whilst maintaining their delicate core-contour negative curvature with a down-ratio as large as 2.4. The transmission loss of down-tapered sections reaches a figure as low as 0.07 dB at 1550 nm. The tapered IC fibers are also spliced to standard SMF with a total insertion loss of 0.48 dB. These results show that all-fiber photonic microcells with the ultra-low loss hypocycloid core-contour Kagome fibers is now possible.

  1. Twist-induced tuning in tapered fiber couplers.

    PubMed

    Birks, T A

    1989-10-01

    The power-splitting ratio of fused tapered single-mode fiber couplers can be reversibly tuned by axial twisting without affecting loss. The twist-tuning behavior of a range of different tapered couplers is described. A simple expression for twist-tuning can be derived by representing the effects of twist by a change in the refractive index profile. Good agreement between this expression and experimental results is demonstrated. Repeated tuning over tens of thousands of cycles is found not to degrade coupler performance, and a number of practical applications, including a freely tunable tapered coupler, are described.

  2. Refractive index and strain sensor based on twin-core fiber with a novel T-shaped taper

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Chuanbiao; Ning, Tigang; Li, Jing; Zheng, JingJing; Gao, Xuekai; Pei, Li

    2018-06-01

    A compact in-fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) based on twin-core fiber (TCF) with a novel T-shaped taper is proposed and demonstrated. The taper was firstly fabricated by a short section of TCF, and then spliced with a section of cleaved single mode fiber (SMF). When the light transmit into the TCF, multiple modes will be excited and will propagate within the TCF. In experiment, the proposed device had a maximum interferometric extinction ratio about 17 dB. And the refractive index (RI), strain, and temperature response properties of the sensor have been investigated, which show a relatively high RI, strain sensitivity and low temperature cross sensitivity. Hence, the sensor can be a suitable candidate in the biochemical and physical sensing applications. And due to its easy and controllable fabrication, the novel drawing technology can be applied to more multicore optical fibers.

  3. Tapered holey fibers for spot-size and numerical-aperture conversion.

    PubMed

    Town, G E; Lizier, J T

    2001-07-15

    Adiabatically tapered holey fibers are shown to be potentially useful for guided-wave spot-size and numerical-aperture conversion. Conditions for adiabaticity and design guidelines are provided in terms of the effective-index model. We also present finite-difference time-domain calculations of downtapered holey fiber, showing that large spot-size conversion factors are obtainable with minimal loss by use of short, optimally shaped tapers.

  4. Fabrication and evaluation of evanescent wave absorption based polyaniline-cladding modified fiber optic urea biosensor

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Botewad, S. N.; Pahurkar, V. G.; Muley, G. G.

    2018-01-01

    The fabrication and study of cladding modified intrinsic fiber optic urea biosensor has been reported in the present investigation. A simple cladding modification technique was used to construct the sensor by uncladding the small portion from optical fiber. Further bare core was decorated by supportive porous, chemically and optically sensitive matrix material polyaniline (PANI) as an active cladding for enzyme residency. Enzyme-urease (Urs) was cross-linked on the active cladding region via glutaraldehyde solution. Confirmation of the prepared PANI in proper form determined by ultraviolet-visible and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic techniques. X-ray diffraction technique was employed for nature and compatibility examination of PANI. Sensor parameters such as sensitivity, selectivity, stability and lower detection limit have been analyzed by absorption variation study in evanescent wave field. The response of prepared sensor was studied towards urea in the wide concentration range 100 nM-100 mM and confirmed its lowest detection limit as 100 nM. The stability of sensor was found 28 days with little variation in response. The fabricated sensor has not shown any response towards interference species like glucose, ascorbic acid, L-alanine, L-arginine and their combination with urea solution and hence found selective for urea solution only.

  5. Guided-Wave Optical Biosensors

    PubMed Central

    Passaro, Vittorio M. N.; Dell'Olio, Francesco; Casamassima, Biagio; De Leonardis, Francesco

    2007-01-01

    Guided-wave optical biosensors are reviewed in this paper. Advantages related to optical technologies are presented and integrated architectures are investigated in detail. Main classes of bio receptors and the most attractive optical transduction mechanisms are discussed. The possibility to use Mach-Zehnder and Young interferometers, microdisk and microring resonators, surface plasmon resonance, hollow and antiresonant waveguides, and Bragg gratings to realize very sensitive and selective, ultra-compact and fast biosensors is discussed. Finally, CMOS-compatible technologies are proved to be the most attractive for fabrication of guided-wave photonic biosensors.

  6. Propagation characteristics of optical fiber structures with arbitrary shape and index variation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Manshadi, F.

    1990-01-01

    The application of the scalar wave-fast Fourier transform (SW-FFT) technique to the computation of the propagation characteristics of some complex optical fiber structures is presented. The SW-FFT technique is based on the numerical solution of the scalar wave equation by a forward-marching fast Fourier transform method. This solution yields the spatial configuration of the fields as well as its modal characteristics in and around the guiding structure. The following are treated by the SW-FFT method: analysis of coupled optical fibers and computation of their odd and even modes and coupling length; the solution of tapered optical waveguides (transitions) and the study of the effect of the slope of the taper on mode conversion; and the analysis of branching optical fibers and demonstration of their mode-filtering and/or power-dividing properties.

  7. Pump and Signal Taper for Airclad Fibers

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2006-01-05

    as follows: Crystal Fibre A/S will develop a taper/coupler solution to interface between a new polarization maintaining/polarizing amplifier fiber ...MM) pump combiner with a high NA air-clad output. The input side of the combiner is 7 individual MM pump delivery solid all- glass fibers . The NA of...pump combiner. MOTIVATION FINAL REPORT ITEM 0002 In a typical standard fused fiber coupler a number of all- glass 0.22 NA pump

  8. Tapered fiber based Brillouin random fiber laser and its application for linewidth measurement.

    PubMed

    Gao, Song; Zhang, Liang; Xu, Yanping; Lu, Ping; Chen, Liang; Bao, Xiaoyi

    2016-12-12

    A one-end pumping Brillouin random fiber laser (BRFL) based on a 5-km tapered fiber (TF) is demonstrated. The enhanced Rayleigh scattering and the increased power density from tapering in the TF provide good directionality and a high degree of coherent feedback. Both the transmitting and TF enhanced Rayleigh scattered pump lights formed effective bi-direction pumping for the Brillouin gain in the standing cavity configuration in the distributed way as the gain and random feedback in the same fiber. The linewidth of the laser shows ~1.17 kHz while the relative intensity noise (RIN) has been verified to be suppressed comparing with that of the two-end pumping of the standard single mode fiber (SMF). Furthermore, utilizing the proposed laser, a high-resolution (~kHz) linewidth measurement method is demonstrated without long delay fiber (>100km) and extra frequency shifter thanks to the acoustic frequency shift from fiber itself.

  9. Sensitive liquid refractive index sensors using tapered optical fiber tips.

    PubMed

    Tai, Yi-Hsin; Wei, Pei-Kuen

    2010-04-01

    An optical fiber sensor based on the change of optical confinement in a subwavelength tip is presented. The optical spot is substantially increased when the environmental refractive index (RI) increases from 1.3 to 1.4. By measuring the intensity of low angular spectral components, an intensity sensitivity up to 8000% per RI unit is achieved. The fiber tip sensors take advantage of the small detection volume and real-time responses. We demonstrate the application of the nanofiber sensors for measuring concentrations of acids and evaporation rates of aqueous mixtures.

  10. Fabrication and characterization of a nanometer-sized optical fiber electrode based on selective chemical etching for scanning electrochemical/optical microscopy.

    PubMed

    Maruyama, Kenichi; Ohkawa, Hiroyuki; Ogawa, Sho; Ueda, Akio; Niwa, Osamu; Suzuki, Koji

    2006-03-15

    We have already reported a method for fabricating ultramicroelectrodes (Suzuki, K. JP Patent, 2004-45394, 2004). This method is based on the selective chemical etching of optical fibers. In this work, we undertake a detailed investigation involving a combination of etched optical fibers with various types of tapered tip (protruding-shape, double- (or pencil-) shape and triple-tapered electrode) and insulation with electrophoretic paint. Our goal is to establish a method for fabricating nanometer-sized optical fiber electrodes with high reproducibility. As a result, we realized pencil-shaped and triple-tapered electrodes that had radii in the nanometer range with high reproducibility. These nanometer-sized electrodes showed well-defined sigmoidal curves and stable diffusion-limited responses with cyclic voltammetry. The pencil-shaped optical fiber, which has a conical tip with a cone angle of 20 degrees , was effective for controlling the electrode radius. The pencil-shaped electrodes had higher reproducibility and smaller electrode radii (r(app) < 1.0 nm) than those of other etched optical fiber electrodes. By using a pencil-shaped electrode with a 105-nm radius as a probe, we obtained simultaneous electrochemical and optical images of an implantable interdigitated array electrode. We achieved nanometer-scale resolution with a combination of scanning electrochemical microscopy SECM and optical microscopy. The resolution of the electrochemical and optical images indicated sizes of 300 and 930 nm, respectively. The neurites of living PC12 cells were also successfully imaged on a 1.6-microm scale by using the negative feedback mode of an SECM.

  11. Water quality monitoring using an automated portable fiber optic biosensor: RAPTOR

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Anderson, George P.; Rowe-Taitt, Chris A.

    2001-03-01

    The RAPTOR is a portable, automated biosensor capable of performing rapid, ten-minute assays on a sample for four target analytes simultaneously. Samples are analyzed using a fluorescent sandwich immunoassay on the surface of short polystyrene optical probes with capture antibody adsorbed to the probe surface. Target analytes bound to the fiber by capture antibodies are detected with fluorescently labeled tracer antibodies, which are held in a separate reservoir. Since target recognition is a two-step process, selectivity is enhanced, and the optical probes can be reused up to forty times, or until a positive result is obtained. This greatly reduces the logistical burden for field operations. Numerous assays for toxins, such as SEB and ricin, and bacteria, such as Bacillus anthracis and Francisella tularensis, have been developed for the RAPTOR. An assay of particular interest for water quality monitoring and the screening of fruits and vegetables is detection of Giardia cysts. Giardia lamblia is a parasitic protozoan common in the developing world that causes severe intestinal infections. Thus, a simple field assay for screening water supplies would be highly useful. Such an assay has been developed using the RAPTOR. The detection limit for Giardia cysts was 5x104/ml for a 10-minute assay.

  12. Development of optical WGM resonators for biosensors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brice, I.; Pirktina, A.; Ubele, A.; Grundsteins, K.; Atvars, A.; Viter, R.; Alnis, J.

    2017-12-01

    Whispering Gallery Mode (WGM) resonators are very sensitive to nanoparticles attaching to the surface. We simulate this process using COMSOL Wave Optics module. Our spherical WGM resonators are produced by melting a tip of an optical fiber and we measure optical Q factors in the 105 range. Molecular oxygen lines of the air in the 760 nm region are used as reference markers when looking for the shifts of the WGM resonance lines. We demonstrate WGM microresonator surface coating with a layer of ZnO nanorods as well as with polystyrene microspheres. Coatings produce increased contact surface. Additional layer of antigens/antibodies will be coated to make high-specificity biosensors.

  13. An efficient method for supercontinuum generation in dispersion-tailored Lead-silicate fiber taper

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Z.; Ma, S.; Dutta, N. K.

    2010-08-01

    In this paper we theoretically study the broadband mid-IR supercontinuum generation (SCG) in a lead-silicate microstructured fiber (the glass for simulation is SF57). The total dispersion of the fiber can be tailored by changing the core diameter of the fiber so that dispersion profiles with two zero dispersion wavelengths (ZDWs) can be obtained. Numerical simulations of the SCG process in a 4 cm long SF57 fiber/fiber taper seeded by femto-second pulses at telecommunications wavelength of 1.55 µm are presented. The results show that a fiber taper features a continuous shift of the longer zero dispersion wavelength. This extends the generated continuum to a longer wavelength region compared to fibers with fixed ZDWs. The phase-matching condition (PMC) is continuously modified in the fiber taper and the bandwidth of the generated dispersive waves (DWs) is significantly broadened.

  14. Microstructured optical fiber photonic wires with subwavelength core diameter.

    PubMed

    Lizé, Yannick; Mägi, Eric; Ta'eed, Vahid; Bolger, Jeremy; Steinvurzel, Paul; Eggleton, Benjamin

    2004-07-12

    We demonstrate fabrication of robust, low-loss silica photonic wires using tapered microstructured silica optical fiber. The fiber is tapered by a factor of fifty while retaining the internal structure and leaving the air holes completely open. The air holes isolate the core mode from the surrounding environment, making it insensitive to surface contamination and contact leakage, suggesting applications as nanowires for photonic circuits . We describe a transition between two different operation regimes of our photonic wire from the embedded regime, where the mode is isolated from the environment, to the evanescent regime, where more than 70% of the mode intensity can propagate outside of the fiber. Interesting dispersion and nonlinear properties are identified.

  15. A switchable and stable single-longitudinal-mode, dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser assisted by Rayleigh backscattering in tapered fiber

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Gu, Jian; Yang, Yanfu, E-mail: yangyanfu@hotmail.com; Zhang, Jianyu

    We have proposed and demonstrated a novel switchable single-longitudinal-mode (SLM), dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser (DWEDFL) assisted by Rayleigh backscattering (RBS) in a tapered fiber in a ring laser configuration. The RBS feedback in a tapered fiber is a key mechanism as linewidth narrowing for laser output. A compound laser cavity ensured that the EDFL operated in the SLM state and a saturable absorber (SA) is employed to form a gain grating for both filtering and improving wavelength stability. The fiber laser can output dual wavelengths simultaneously or operate at single wavelength in a switchable manner. Experiment results show that withmore » the proper SA, the peak power drift was improved from 1–2 dB to 0.31 dB and the optical signal to noise ratio was higher than 60 dB. Under the assistance of RBS feedback, the laser linewidths are compressed by around three times and the Lorentzian 3 dB linewidths of 445 Hz and 425 Hz are obtained at 1550 nm and 1554 nm, respectively.« less

  16. Optofluidic in-fiber interferometer based on hollow optical fiber with two cores.

    PubMed

    Yuan, Tingting; Yang, Xinghua; Liu, Zhihai; Yang, Jun; Li, Song; Kong, Depeng; Qi, Xiuxiu; Yu, Wenting; Long, Qunlong; Yuan, Libo

    2017-07-24

    We demonstrate a novel integrated optical fiber interferometer for in-fiber optofluidic detection. It is composed of a specially designed hollow optical fiber with a micro-channel and two cores. One core on the inner surface of the micro-channel is served as sensing arm and the other core in the annular cladding is served as reference arm. Fusion-and-tapering method is employed to couple light from a single mode fiber to the hollow optical fiber in this device. Sampling is realized by side opening a microhole on the surface of the hollow optical fiber. Under differential pressure between the end of the hollow fiber and the microhole, the liquids can form steady microflows in the micro-channel. Simultaneously, the interference spectrum of the interferometer device shifts with the variation of the concentration of the microfluid in the channel. The optofluidic in-fiber interferometer has a sensitivity of refractive index around 2508 nm/RIU for NaCl. For medicine concentration detection, its sensitivity is 0.076 nm/mmolL -1 for ascorbic acid. Significantly, this work presents a compact microfluidic in-fiber interferometer with a micro-channel which can be integrated with chip devices without spatial optical coupling and without complex manufacturing procedure of the waveguide on the chips.

  17. Ultrahigh resolution radiation imaging system using an optical fiber structure scintillator plate.

    PubMed

    Yamamoto, Seiichi; Kamada, Kei; Yoshikawa, Akira

    2018-02-16

    High resolution imaging of radiation is required for such radioisotope distribution measurements as alpha particle detection in nuclear facilities or high energy physics experiments. For this purpose, we developed an ultrahigh resolution radiation imaging system using an optical fiber structure scintillator plate. We used a ~1-μm diameter fiber structured GdAlO 3 :Ce (GAP) /α-Al 2 O 3 scintillator plate to reduce the light spread. The fiber structured scintillator plate was optically coupled to a tapered optical fiber plate to magnify the image and combined with a lens-based high sensitivity CCD camera. We observed the images of alpha particles with a spatial resolution of ~25 μm. For the beta particles, the images had various shapes, and the trajectories of the electrons were clearly observed in the images. For the gamma photons, the images also had various shapes, and the trajectories of the secondary electrons were observed in some of the images. These results show that combining an optical fiber structure scintillator plate with a tapered optical fiber plate and a high sensitivity CCD camera achieved ultrahigh resolution and is a promising method to observe the images of the interactions of radiation in a scintillator.

  18. Adiabatically tapered splice for selective excitation of the fundamental mode in a multimode fiber.

    PubMed

    Jung, Yongmin; Jeong, Yoonchan; Brambilla, Gilberto; Richardson, David J

    2009-08-01

    We propose a simple and effective method to selectively excite the fundamental mode of a multimode fiber by adiabatically tapering a fusion splice to a single-mode fiber. We experimentally demonstrate the method by adiabatically tapering splice (taper waist=15 microm, uniform length=40 mm) between single-mode and multimode fiber and show that it provides a successful mode conversion/connection and allows for almost perfect fundamental mode excitation in the multimode fiber. Excellent beam quality (M(2) approximately 1.08) was achieved with low loss and high environmental stability.

  19. Polarization insensitive all-fiber mode-lockers functioned by carbon nanotubes deposited onto tapered fibers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Song, Yong-Won; Morimune, Keiyo; Set, Sze Y.; Yamashita, Shinji

    2007-01-01

    The authors demonstrate a nonblocked all-fiber mode locker operated by the interaction of carbon nanotubes with the evanescent field of propagating light in a tapered fiber. Symmetric cross section of the device with the randomly oriented nanotubes guarantees the polarization insensitive operation of the pulse formation. In order to minimize the scattering, the carbon nanotubes are deposited within a designed area around the tapered waist. The demonstrated passively pulsed laser has the repetition rate of 7.3MHz and the pulse width of 829fs.

  20. Quasi-interferometric scheme improved by fiber Bragg grating written on macrostructure defect in silica multimode optical fiber operating in a few-mode regime

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Evtushenko, Alexander S.; Faskhutdinov, Lenar M.; Kafarova, Anastasia M.; Kuznetzov, Artem A.; Minaeva, Alina Yu.; Sevruk, Nikita L.; Nureev, Ilnur I.; Vasilets, Alexander A.; Andreev, Vladimir A.; Morozov, Oleg G.; Burdin, Vladimir A.; Bourdine, Anton V.

    2017-04-01

    This work presents results of experimental approbation of earlier on proposed modified fiber optic stress sensor based on a few-mode effects occurring during laser-excited optical signal propagation over silica multimode optical fiber (MMF). Modification is concerned with a passage to quasi-interferometric scheme realized by two multimode Y-couplers with equalized arm lengths improved by fiber Bragg grating (FBG) written on preliminary formed precision macrostructure defects in silica multimode graded-index optical fibers and special offset launching conditions providing laser-based excitation of higher-order modes. The "arms" of quasi-interferometer are two equalized lengths of MMF Cat. OM2 with great central dip of refractive index profile and strong pulse splitting due to high differential mode delay (DMD). We tested FBGs with Bragg wavelength both 1310 nm and 1550 nm written over tapers or up-tapers preliminary formed in short pieces of MMF Cat. OM2+/OM3 and further jointed to the end of one of the arms before output Y-coupler. Researches were focused on comparison analysis of pulse responses under changing of selected excited mode mixing and power diffusion processes due to stress distributed action to sensor fiber depending. Here we considered FBGs not only as particular wavelength reflector during spectral response measurement but also as local periodic microstructure defect which strongly effects on few-mode signal components mixing process also improved by combination with macro-defect like taper or up-taper that should provide response variation. Some results pulse response measurements produced for different scheme configuration and their comparison analysis are represented.

  1. Ultrathin niobium nanofilms on fiber optical tapers - a new route towards low-loss hybrid plasmonic modes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wieduwilt, Torsten; Tuniz, Alessandro; Linzen, Sven; Goerke, Sebastian; Dellith, Jan; Hübner, Uwe; Schmidt, Markus A.

    2015-11-01

    Due to the ongoing improvement in nanostructuring technology, ultrathin metallic nanofilms have recently gained substantial attention in plasmonics, e.g. as building blocks of metasurfaces. Typically, noble metals such as silver or gold are the materials of choice, due to their excellent optical properties, however they also possess some intrinsic disadvantages. Here, we introduce niobium nanofilms (~10 nm thickness) as an alternate plasmonic platform. We demonstrate functionality by depositing a niobium nanofilm on a plasmonic fiber taper, and observe a dielectric-loaded niobium surface-plasmon excitation for the first time, with a modal attenuation of only 3-4 dB/mm in aqueous environment and a refractive index sensitivity up to 15 μm/RIU if the analyte index exceeds 1.42. We show that the niobium nanofilm possesses bulk optical properties, is continuous, homogenous, and inert against any environmental influence, thus possessing several superior properties compared to noble metal nanofilms. These results demonstrate that ultrathin niobium nanofilms can serve as a new platform for biomedical diagnostics, superconducting photonics, ultrathin metasurfaces or new types of optoelectronic devices.

  2. Linearly chirped tapered fiber-Bragg-grating-based Fabry-Perot cavity and its application in simultaneous strain and temperature measurement.

    PubMed

    Markowski, Konrad; Jędrzejewski, Kazimierz; Marzęcki, Michał; Osuch, Tomasz

    2017-04-01

    A novel concept of a Fabry-Perot (F-P) cavity composed of two linearly chirped fiber Bragg gratings written in a thermally fused fiber taper is presented. Both chirped gratings are written in counter-directional chirp configuration, where chirps resulting from the optical fiber taper profile and linearly increasing grating periods cancel each other out, forming a high-quality F-P resonator. A new strain-sensing mechanism is proposed in the presented structure, which is based on strain-induced detuning of the F-P resonator. Due to the different strain and temperature responses of the cavity, the resonator can be used for the simultaneous measurement of these physical quantities, or it can be used as a temperature-independent strain sensor.

  3. Combined imaging and chemical sensing using a single optical imaging fiber.

    PubMed

    Bronk, K S; Michael, K L; Pantano, P; Walt, D R

    1995-09-01

    Despite many innovations and developments in the field of fiber-optic chemical sensors, optical fibers have not been employed to both view a sample and concurrently detect an analyte of interest. While chemical sensors employing a single optical fiber or a noncoherent fiberoptic bundle have been applied to a wide variety of analytical determinations, they cannot be used for imaging. Similarly, coherent imaging fibers have been employed only for their originally intended purpose, image transmission. We herein report a new technique for viewing a sample and measuring surface chemical concentrations that employs a coherent imaging fiber. The method is based on the deposition of a thin, analyte-sensitive polymer layer on the distal surface of a 350-microns-diameter imaging fiber. We present results from a pH sensor array and an acetylcholine biosensor array, each of which contains approximately 6000 optical sensors. The acetylcholine biosensor has a detection limit of 35 microM and a fast (< 1 s) response time. In association with an epifluorescence microscope and a charge-coupled device, these modified imaging fibers can display visual information of a remote sample with 4-microns spatial resolution, allowing for alternating acquisition of both chemical analysis and visual histology.

  4. Highly tunable birefringent microstructured optical fiber.

    PubMed

    Kerbage, C; Steinvurzel, P; Reyes, P; Westbrook, P S; Windeler, R S; Hale, A; Eggleton, B J

    2002-05-15

    We demonstrate a method for introducing and dynamically tuning birefringence in a microstructured optical fiber. Waveguide asymmetry in the fiber is obtained by selective filling of air holes with polymer, and tunability is achieved by temperature tuning of the polymer's index. The fiber is tapered such that the mode field expands into the cladding and efficiently overlaps the polymer that has been infused into the air holes, ensuring enhanced tunability and low splice loss. Experimental results are compared with numerical simulations made with the beam propagation method and confirm birefringence tuning that corresponds to a phase change of 6pi for a 1-cm length of fiber.

  5. Fabrication of micro/nano optical fiber by mechano-electrospinning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Qinnan; Wu, Dezhi; Yu, Zhe; Mei, Xuecui; Fang, Ke; Sun, Daoheng

    2017-10-01

    We study a novel fabrication method of micro/nano optical fiber by mechano-electrospinning (MES) direct-written technology. MES process is able to precisely manipulate the position and diameter of the electro-spun micro/nano fiber by adjusting the mechanical drawing force, which through changing the speed of motion stage (substrate). By adjusting the substrate speed, the nozzle-to-substrate distance and the applied voltage, the poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) micro/nano optical fibers (MNOF) with controlled diameter are obtained and the tapered MNOF are fabricated by continuously changing the substrate speed. The transmission characteristics of PMMA micro/nano fiber is experimentally demonstrated, and a PMMA micro/nano fiber based refractive index sensor is designed. Our works shows the new fabrication method of MNOF by MES has the potential in the field of light mode conversion, optical waveguide coupling, refractive index detection and new micro/nano optical fiber components.

  6. Octave-spanning spectrum generation in tapered silica photonic crystal fiber by Yb:fiber ring laser above 500 MHz.

    PubMed

    Jiang, Tongxiao; Wang, Guizhong; Zhang, Wei; Li, Chen; Wang, Aimin; Zhang, Zhigang

    2013-02-15

    We report octave-spanning spectrum generated in a tapered silica photonic crystal fiber by a mode-locked Yb:fiber ring laser at a repetition rate as high as 528 MHz. The output pulses from this laser were compressed to 62 fs. By controlling the hole expansion and core diameter, a silica PCF was tapered to 20 cm with an optimal d/Λ ratio of 0.6. Pulses with the energy of 280 pJ and the peak power of 4.5 kW were injected into the tapered fiber and the pulse spectrum was expanded from 500 to 1600 nm at the level of -30 dB.

  7. Ultra-low power fiber-coupled gallium arsenide photonic crystal cavity electro-optic modulator.

    PubMed

    Shambat, Gary; Ellis, Bryan; Mayer, Marie A; Majumdar, Arka; Haller, Eugene E; Vučković, Jelena

    2011-04-11

    We demonstrate a gallium arsenide photonic crystal cavity injection-based electro-optic modulator coupled to a fiber taper waveguide. The fiber taper serves as a convenient and tunable waveguide for cavity coupling with minimal loss. Localized electrical injection of carriers into the cavity region via a laterally doped p-i-n diode combined with the small mode volume of the cavity enable ultra-low energy modulation at sub-fJ/bit levels. Speeds of up to 1 GHz are demonstrated with photoluminescence lifetime measurements revealing that the ultimate limit goes well into the tens of GHz. © 2011 Optical Society of America

  8. Nonlinear response of silicon photonic crystal microresonators excited via an integrated waveguide and fiber taper.

    PubMed

    Barclay, Paul; Srinivasan, Kartik; Painter, Oskar

    2005-02-07

    A technique is demonstrated which efficiently transfers light between a tapered standard single-mode optical fiber and a high-Q, ultra-small mode volume, silicon photonic crystal resonant cavity. Cavity mode quality factors of 4.7x10(4) are measured, and a total fiber-to-cavity coupling efficiency of 44% is demonstrated. Using this efficient cavity input and output channel, the steady-state nonlinear absorption and dispersion of the photonic crystal cavity is studied. Optical bistability is observed for fiber input powers as low as 250 microW, corresponding to a dropped power of 100 microW and 3 fJ of stored cavity energy. A high-density effective free-carrier lifetime for these silicon photonic crystal resonators of ~ 0.5 ns is also estimated from power dependent loss and dispersion measurements.

  9. Temperature-independent refractometer based on a tapered photonic crystal fiber interferometer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ni, Kai; Chan, Chi Chiu; Dong, Xinyong; Poh, C. L.; Li, Tao

    2013-03-01

    A temperature-independent refractometer by using a tapered photonic crystal fiber (PCF) based Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. It is fabricated by sandwiching a tapered PCF of 29 mm long between two standard single mode fibers (SMFs) with the fully collapsed air holes of the PCF in the fusion splicing region. It has been found that tapering the PCF greatly enhances the sensitivity of the refractometer. A maximum sensitivity of 1529 nm/RIU (refractive index unit) is achieved within the range from 1.3355 to 1.413. The refractometer is nearly temperature-insensitive due to the ultra low temperature dependence of the used.

  10. Collection of Light From an Optical Fiber With a Numerical Aperture Greater Than One

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Egalon, Claudio O. (Inventor); Rogowski, Robert S. (Inventor)

    1996-01-01

    In an optical fiber having NA greater than 1, light may be internally reflected when it strikes the fiber end at a fiber-air interface. This problem may be overcome by modification of the fiber by reverse tapering the core. Light is redirected by the taper to strike the interface at an angle closer to normal. This allows light to exit the fiber end that would by internally reflected in an untapered fiber of NA greater than 1. The novelty of the present invention lies in the tapering of the fiber core for increased through transmission of light. Prior art devices have made use of fiber tapers to achieve mode control or fiber coupling. The problem of internal reflection has not been addressed as it is one that is not as important in fibers having NA less than 1, which are more common. In chemical sensing it is advantageous to make use of fibers having higher NA due to an increased sensitivity. However the advantages in sensitivity are diminished due to the loss of signal at the fiber-air interface. The present invention overcomes the problem of loss at the interface, thus facilitating the use of high NA fibers for chemical sensing.

  11. Polymer optical fiber tapering using chemical solvent and polishing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Supian, L. S.; Syuhaimi Ab-Rahman, Mohd; Arsad, Norhana

    2017-11-01

    A method for developing polymer optical fiber (POF) directional coupler is introduced where the initial procedure includes using chemical solvent to remove the cladding, and bare out the core in order to align the unclad center of the fiber with other similar fiber to develop a coupler. The process is safe, simple, inexpensive and require low operation skill. The etched fiber offers improvement to the performance of various POF devices, i.e, couplers and sensors. Instead of relying only on silica or glass fiber, POF now can be used as an alternative to improve the network performance in short distance communication system. The measurement parameters laid out offer great outcomes. However, the couplers intended to be developed is yet to be realized, where deeper research and various experiments are needed in order to develop a simple but optimum performance coupler that can be used for various applications.

  12. Low noise erbium fiber fs frequency comb based on a tapered-fiber carbon nanotube design.

    PubMed

    Wu, Tsung-Han; Kieu, K; Peyghambarian, N; Jones, R J

    2011-03-14

    We report on a low noise all-fiber erbium fs frequency comb based on a simple and robust tapered-fiber carbon nanotube (tf-CNT) design. We mitigate dominant noise sources to show that the free-running linewidth of the carrier-envelope offset frequency (fceo) can be comparable to the best reported performance to date for fiber-based frequency combs. A free-running fceo linewidth of ~20 kHz is demonstrated, corresponding to an improvement of ~30 times over previous work based on a CNT mode-locked fiber laser [Opt. Express 18, 1667 (2010)]. We also demonstrate the use of an acousto-optic modulator external to the laser cavity to stabilize fceo, enabling a 300 kHz feedback control bandwidth. The offset frequency is phase-locked with an in-loop integrated phase noise of ~0.8 rad from 10Hz to 400kHz. We show a resolution-limited linewidth of ~1 Hz, demonstrating over 90% of the carrier power within the coherent fceo signal. The results demonstrate that the relatively simple tf-CNT fiber laser design can provide a compact, robust and high-performance fs frequency comb.

  13. Tapered capillary optics

    DOEpatents

    Hirsch, Gregory

    1998-01-01

    A metal or glass wire is etched with great precision into a very narrowly tapering cone which has the shape of the desired final capillary-optics bore. By controlling the rate of removal of the wire from an etchant bath, a carefully controlled taper is produced. A sensor measures the diameter of the wire as it leaves the surface of the etchant. This signal is used for feedback control of the withdrawal speed. The etched wire undergoes a treatment to produce an extremely low surface-roughness. The etched and smoothed wire is coated with the material of choice for optimizing the reflectivity of the radiation being focused. This could be a vacuum evaporation, sputtering, CVD or aqueous chemical process. The coated wire is either electroplated, built up with electroless plating, or encapsulated in a polymer cylinder such as epoxy to increase the diameter of the wire for easier handling and greater robustness. During this process, the wire is vertically oriented and tensioned to assure that the wire is absolutely straight. The coated and electroformed wire is bonded to a flat, rigid substrate and is then periodically segmented by cutting or etching a series of narrow slits or grooves into the wire. The wire is vertically oriented and tensioned during the bonding process to assure that it is straight. The original wire material is then chemically etched away through the slits or otherwise withdrawn to leave the hollow internal bore of the final tapered-capillary optical element.

  14. Optical fiber endface biosensor based on resonances in dielectric waveguide gratings

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wawro, Debra D.; Tibuleac, Sorin; Magnusson, Robert; Liu, Hanli

    2000-05-01

    A new fiber optic sensor integrating dielectric diffraction gratings and thin films on optical fiber endfaces is prosed for biomedical sensing applications. This device utilizes a resonant dielectric waveguide grating structure fabricated on an optical fiber endface to probe reactions occurring in a sensing layer deposited on its surface. The operation of this sensor is based upon a fundamental resonance effect that occurs in waveguide gratings. An incident broad- spectrum signal is guided within an optical fiber and is filtered to reflect or transmit a desired spectral band by the diffractive thin film structure on its endface. Slight changes in one or more parameters of the waveguide grating, such as refractive index or thickness, can result in a responsive shift of the reflected or transmitted spectral peak that can be detected with spectroscopic instruments. This new sensor concept combines improved sensitivity and accuracy with attractive features found separately in currently available fiber optic sensors, such as large dynamic range, small sensing proximity, real time operation, and remote sensing. Diffractive elements of this type consisting of a photoresist grating on a Si3N4 waveguide have been fabricated on multimode optical fiber endfaces with 100 micrometers cores. Preliminary experimental tests using a tunable Ti:sapphire laser indicate notches of 18 percent in the transmission spectrum of the fiber endface guided-mode resonance devices. A theoretical analysis of the device performance capabilities is presented and applied to evaluate the feasibility and potential advantages of this bioprobe.

  15. Tapered Glass-Fiber Microspike: High-Q Flexural Wave Resonator and Optically Driven Knudsen Pump.

    PubMed

    Pennetta, Riccardo; Xie, Shangran; Russell, Philip St J

    2016-12-30

    Appropriately designed optomechanical devices are ideal for making ultra-sensitive measurements. Here we report a fused-silica microspike that supports a flexural resonance with a quality factor greater than 100 000 at room temperature in vacuum. Fashioned by tapering single-mode fiber (SMF), it is designed so that the core-guided optical mode in the SMF evolves adiabatically into the fundamental mode of the air-glass waveguide at the tip. The very narrow mechanical linewidth (20 mHz) makes it possible to measure extremely small changes in resonant frequency. In a vacuum chamber at low pressure, the weak optical absorption of the glass is sufficient to create a temperature gradient along the microspike, which causes it to act as a microscopic Knudsen pump, driving a flow of gas molecules towards the tip where the temperature is highest. The result is a circulating molecular flow within the chamber. Momentum exchange between the vibrating microspike and the flowing molecules causes an additional restoring force that can be measured as a tiny shift in the resonant frequency. The effect is strongest when the mean free path of the gas molecules is comparable with the dimensions of the vacuum chamber. The system offers a novel means of monitoring the behavior of weakly absorbing optomechanical sensors operating in vacuum.

  16. Highly sensitive detection of molecular interactions with plasmonic optical fiber grating sensors.

    PubMed

    Voisin, Valérie; Pilate, Julie; Damman, Pascal; Mégret, Patrice; Caucheteur, Christophe

    2014-01-15

    Surface Plasmon resonance (SPR) optical fiber biosensors constitute a miniaturized counterpart to the bulky prism configuration and offer remote operation in very small volumes of analyte. They are a cost-effective and relatively straightforward technique to yield in situ (or even possibly in vivo) molecular detection. The biosensor configuration reported in this work uses nanometric-scale gold-coated tilted fiber Bragg gratings (TFBGs) interrogated by light polarized radially to the optical fiber outer surface, so as to maximize the optical coupling with the SPR. These gratings were recently associated to aptamers to assess their label-free biorecognition capability in buffer and serum solutions. In this work, using the well-acknowledged biotin-streptavidin pair as a benchmark, we go forward in the demonstration of their unique sensitivity. In addition to the monitoring of the self-assembled monolayer (SAM) in real time, we report an unprecedented limit of detection (LOD) as low as 2 pM. Finally, an immunosensing experiment is realized with human transferrin (dissociation constant Kd~10(-8) M(-1)). It allows to assess both the reversibility and the robustness of the SPR-TFBG biosensors and to confirm their high sensitivity. © 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V.

  17. Fiber-optic evanescent-field sensor for attitude measurement

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Yun; Chen, Shimeng; Liu, Zigeng; Guang, Jianye; Peng, Wei

    2017-11-01

    We proposed a new approach to attitude measurement by an evanescent field-based optical fiber sensing device and demonstrated a liquid pendulum. The device consisted of three fiber-optic evanescent-filed sensors which were fabricated by tapered single mode fibers and immersed in liquid. Three fiber Bragg gratings were used to measure the changes in evanescent field. And their reflection peaks were monitored in real time as measurement signals. Because every set of reflection responses corresponded to a unique attitude, the attitude of the device could be measured by the three fiber-optic evanescent-filed sensors. After theoretical analysis, computerized simulation and experimental verification, regular responses were obtained using this device for attitude measurement. The measurement ranges of dihedral angle and direction angle were 0°-50° and 0°-360°. The device is based on cost-effective power-referenced scheme. It can be used in electromagnetic or nuclear radiation environment.

  18. Fiber-optical switch controlled by a single atom.

    PubMed

    O'Shea, Danny; Junge, Christian; Volz, Jürgen; Rauschenbeutel, Arno

    2013-11-08

    We demonstrate highly efficient switching of optical signals between two optical fibers controlled by a single atom. The key element of our experiment is a whispering-gallery-mode bottle microresonator, which is coupled to a single atom and interfaced by two tapered fiber couplers. This system reaches the strong coupling regime of cavity quantum electrodynamics, leading to a vacuum Rabi splitting in the excitation spectrum. We systematically investigate the switching efficiency of our system, i.e., the probability that the fiber-optical switch redirects the light into the desired output. We obtain a large redirection efficiency reaching a raw fidelity of more than 60% without postselection. Moreover, by measuring the second-order correlation functions of the output fields, we show that our switch exhibits a photon-number-dependent routing capability.

  19. Evanescent field-based optical fiber sensing device for measuring the refractive index of liquids in microfluidic channels.

    PubMed

    Polynkin, PaveL; Polynkin, Alexander; Peyghambarian, N; Mansuripur, Masud

    2005-06-01

    We report a simple optical sensing device capable of measuring the refractive index of liquids propagating in microfluidic channels. The sensor is based on a single-mode optical fiber that is tapered to submicrometer dimensions and immersed in a transparent curable soft polymer. A channel for liquid analyte is created in the immediate vicinity of the taper waist. Light propagating through the tapered section of the fiber extends into the channel, making the optical loss in the system sensitive to the refractive-index difference between the polymer and the liquid. The fabrication process and testing of the prototype sensing devices are described. The sensor can operate both as a highly responsive on-off device and in the continuous measurement mode, with an estimated accuracy of refractive-index measurement of approximately 5 x 10(-4).

  20. All-optical switching in GaAs microdisk resonators by a femtosecond pump-probe technique through tapered-fiber coupling.

    PubMed

    Lin, Yen-Chih; Mao, Ming-Hua; Lin, You-Ru; Lin, Hao-Hsiung; Lin, Che-An; Wang, Lon A

    2014-09-01

    We demonstrate ultrafast all-optical switching in GaAs microdisk resonators using a femtosecond pump-probe technique through tapered-fiber coupling. The temporal tuning of the resonant modes resulted from the refractive index change due to photoexcited carrier density variation inside the GaAs microdisk resonator. Transmission through the GaAs microdisk resonator can be modulated by more than 10 dB with a switching time window of 8 ps in the switch-off operation using pumping pulses with energies as low as 17.5 pJ. The carrier lifetime was fitted to be 42 ps, much shorter than that of the bulk GaAs, typically of the order of nanoseconds. The above observation indicates that the surface recombination plays an important role in increasing the switching speed.

  1. Development of an instrumentation system for measurement of degradation of lubricating oil using optical fiber sensor

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Laskar, S.; Bordoloi, S.

    2016-01-01

    This paper presents an instrumentation system to measure the degradation in lubricating oil using a bare, tapered and bent multi-mode optical fiber (BTBMOF) sensor probe and a temperature probe. The sensor system consists of (i) a bare, tapered and bent multi-mode optical fiber (BTBMOF) as optical sensor along with a laser source and a LDR (Light Dependent Resistor) as detector (ii) a temperature sensor (iii) a ATmega microcontroller based data acquisition system and (iv) a trained ANN for processing and calibration. The BTBMOF sensor and the temperature sensor are used to provide the measure of refractive index (RI) and the temperature of a lubricating oil sample. A microcontroller based instrumentation system with trained ANN algorithm has been developed to determine the degradation of the lubricating oil sample by sampling the readings of the optical fiber sensor, and the temperature sensor.

  2. Graphene-Based Optical Biosensors and Imaging

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Tang, Zhiwen; He, Shijiang; Pei, Hao

    2014-01-13

    This chapter focuses on the design, fabrication and application of graphene based optical nanobiosensors. The emerging graphene based optical nanobiosensors demonstrated the promising bioassay and biomedical applications thanking to the unique optical features of graphene. According to the different applications, the graphene can be tailored to form either fluorescent emitter or efficient fluorescence quencher. The exceptional electronic feature of graphene makes it a powerful platform for fabricating the SPR and SERS biosensors. Today the graphene based optical biosensors have been constructed to detect various targets including ions, small biomolecules, DNA/RNA and proteins. This chapter reviews the recent progress in graphene-basedmore » optical biosensors and discusses the opportunities and challenges in this field.« less

  3. Supercontinuum generation from 437 to 2850 nm in a tapered fluorotellurite microstructured fiber

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, F.; Jia, Z. X.; Yao, C. F.; Wang, S. B.; Hu, M. L.; Wu, C. F.; Ohishi, Y.; Qin, W. P.; Qin, G. S.

    2016-12-01

    We demonstrated supercontinuum (SC) generation in a tapered fluorotellurite microstructured fiber (MF) with a sub-micrometer core diameter. Fluorotellurite MFs based on TeO2-BaF2-Y2O3 glasses were fabricated by using a rod-in-tube method and a tapered fluorotellurite MF with a minimum core diameter of ~0.65 µm was prepared by employing a tapering system. A 1560 nm femtosecond fiber laser was used as the pumping source. With increasing the peak power of the launched pump laser to ~11 kW, SC light expanding from 437 to 2850 nm was generated in the tapered fluorotellurite MF. In addition, relatively strong blue-shifted dispersive wave at ~489 nm was also observed from the tapered fluorotellurite MF.

  4. Theoretical study of mode evolution in active long tapered multimode fiber.

    PubMed

    Shi, Chen; Wang, Xiaolin; Zhou, Pu; Xu, Xiaojun; Lu, Qisheng

    2016-08-22

    A concise and effective model based on coupled mode theory to describe mode evolution in long tapered active fiber is presented in this manuscript. The mode coupling due to variation of core radius and slight perturbation have been analyzed and local gain with transverse spatial hole burning (TSHB) effect, loss and curvature have been taken into consideration in our model. On the base of this model, the mode evolution behaviors under different factors have been numerically investigated. Our model and results can provide instructive suggestions when designing long tapered fiber based laser and amplifiers.

  5. A sensor-type application of a self-oscillating dynamic system with a fiber optic feedback line, including chemical sensors and biosensors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rabinovich, Emmanuel M.

    2004-05-01

    We present an overview of research, conducted and published by the author and colleagues during the preceding decade, with self-oscillating dynamic systems. Special attention has been addressed to sensor type applications that allow one to design a new type of sensors of different physical parameters as well as using system for chemical and biosensors. Many detection methods exploit self-oscillating systems, such as lasers and RF or microwave oscillators, and use changes introduced into a feedback mechanism (for instance laser inter-cavity spectroscopy) for evaluation of different physical parameters such as refractive indices or absorption coefficients. Typically, that approach is very efficient, is easy to implement, and gives high sensitivity. We have demonstrated that a similar method can be used in the case of an RF optoelectronic self-oscillating system (OSOS) with a fiber-optic feedback line. Using fiber as an element of a positive feedback line allows one to design a new family of fiber-optic sensors each of which can be integrated into a fiber-optic feedback line. Changes introduced into the feedback line of an OSOS typically cause an RF frequency shift that can be measured very precisely with an RF frequency counter or spectrum analyzer. For some types of sensors an OSOS can easily incorporate and utilize advantages of well-developed modern inexpensive light sources (VCSELs, LEDs) and opto-electronic components that have been designed for communication purposes. A single closed loop OSOS can be easily duplicated for sensor array measurement via the use of parallel fiber-optics (for example VCSEL arrays and fiber ribbon cables) that have been well developed for telecommunication systems.

  6. Bent optical fiber tapers for refractometery and biosensing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Penchev, Emil; Eftimov, Tinko; Bock, Wojtek

    2015-01-01

    We report the results of our study of the spectral shifts caused by surrounding refractive index changes (SRI) in bent fibre tapers. Fused and etched fibre tapers were fabricated using a gas burner and HF acid. Spectral shifts as high as 200 nm have been observed for SRI variations from 1.33 to 1.44 and sensitivity as high as 830 nm/r.i.u. around water RI values. We present results for refractometric measurements of cow milk of varying fat content and compare results with those obtained with conventional Abbe refractometers and high sensitivity double resonance LPGs.

  7. Temperature-independent curvature sensor based on tapered photonic crystal fiber interferometer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ni, Kai; Li, Tao; Hu, Limin; Qian, Wenwen; Zhang, Quanyao; Jin, Shangzhong

    2012-11-01

    A temperature-independent highly-sensitive curvature sensor by using a tapered-photonic crystal fiber (PCF)-based Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. It is fabricated by sandwiching a tapered-PCF between two standard single mode fibers (SMFs) with the air holes of the PCF in the fusion splicing region being fully collapsed. The tapering of PCF is found to enhance the sensitivity significantly. Large curvature sensitivities of 2.81 dB/m-1 and 8.35 dB/m-1 are achieved in the measurement ranges of 0.36-0.87 m-1 and 0.87-1.34 m-1, respectively, with the resolution of 0.0012 m-1 being guaranteed. The proposed sensor also shows negligible temperature sensitivity less than 0.006 dB/°C.

  8. Gold Coating of Fiber Tips in Near-Field Scanning Optical Microscopy

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Vikram, Chandra S.; Witherow, William K.

    2000-01-01

    We report what is believed to be the first experimental demonstration of gold coating by a chemical baking process on tapered fiber tips used in near-field scanning optical microscopy. Many tips can be simultaneously coated.

  9. Mode division multiplexing technology for single-fiber optical trapping axial-position adjustment.

    PubMed

    Liu, Zhihai; Wang, Lei; Liang, Peibo; Zhang, Yu; Yang, Jun; Yuan, Libo

    2013-07-15

    We demonstrate trapped yeast cell axial-position adjustment without moving the optical fiber in a single-fiber optical trapping system. The dynamic axial-position adjustment is realized by controlling the power ratio of the fundamental mode beam (LP01) and the low-order mode beam (LP11) generated in a normal single-core fiber. In order to separate the trapping positions produced by the two mode beams, we fabricate a special fiber tapered tip with a selective two-step method. A yeast cell of 6 μm diameter is moved along the optical axis direction for a distance of ~3 μm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of the trapping position adjustment without moving the fiber for single-fiber optical tweezers. The excitation and utilization of multimode beams in a single fiber constitutes a new development for single-fiber optical trapping and makes possible more practical applications in biomedical research fields.

  10. Broadband single-mode operation of standard optical fibers by using a sub-wavelength optical wire filter.

    PubMed

    Jung, Yongmin; Brambilla, Gilberto; Richardson, David J

    2008-09-15

    We report the use of a sub-wavelength optical wire (SOW) with a specifically designed transition region as an efficient tool to filter higher-order modes in multimode waveguides. Higher-order modes are effectively suppressed by controlling the transition taper profile and the diameter of the sub-wavelength optical wire. As a practical example, single-mode operation of a standard telecom optical fiber over a broad spectral window (400 approximately 1700 nm) was demonstrated with a 1microm SOW. The ability to obtain robust and stable single-mode operation over a very broad range of wavelengths offers new possibilities for mode control within fiber devices and is relevant to a range of application sectors including high performance fiber lasers, sensors, photolithography, and optical coherence tomography systems.

  11. Mode conversion in a tapered fiber via a whispering gallery mode resonator and its application as add/drop filter.

    PubMed

    Huang, Ligang; Wang, Jie; Peng, Weihua; Zhang, Wending; Bo, Fang; Yu, Xuanyi; Gao, Feng; Chang, Pengfa; Song, Xiaobo; Zhang, Guoquan; Xu, Jingjun

    2016-02-01

    Based on the conversion between the fundamental mode (LP01) and the higher-order mode (LP11) in a tapered fiber via a whispering gallery mode resonator, an add/drop filter was proposed and demonstrated experimentally, in which the resonator only interacted with one tapered fiber, rather than two tapered fibers as in conventional configurations. The filter gains advantages of easy alignment and low scattering loss over the other filters based on tapered fiber and resonator, and will be useful in application.

  12. Fiber optic D dimer biosensor

    DOEpatents

    Glass, Robert S.; Grant, Sheila A.

    1999-01-01

    A fiber optic sensor for D dimer (a fibrinolytic product) can be used in vivo (e.g., in catheter-based procedures) for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke-related conditions in humans. Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States. It has been estimated that strokes and stroke-related disorders cost Americans between $15-30 billion annually. Relatively recently, new medical procedures have been developed for the treatment of stroke. These endovascular procedures rely upon the use of microcatheters. These procedures could be facilitated with this sensor for D dimer integrated with a microcatheter for the diagnosis of clot type, and as an indicator of the effectiveness, or end-point of thrombolytic therapy.

  13. Fiber optic D dimer biosensor

    DOEpatents

    Glass, R.S.; Grant, S.A.

    1999-08-17

    A fiber optic sensor for D dimer (a fibrinolytic product) can be used in vivo (e.g., in catheter-based procedures) for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke-related conditions in humans. Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States. It has been estimated that strokes and stroke-related disorders cost Americans between $15-30 billion annually. Relatively recently, new medical procedures have been developed for the treatment of stroke. These endovascular procedures rely upon the use of microcatheters. These procedures could be facilitated with this sensor for D dimer integrated with a microcatheter for the diagnosis of clot type, and as an indicator of the effectiveness, or end-point of thrombolytic therapy. 4 figs.

  14. Thin-Ribbon Tapered Couplers For Dielectric Waveguides

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Otoshi, Tom Y.; Shimabukuro, Fred I.; Yeh, Cavour

    1996-01-01

    Thin-ribbon tapered couplers proposed for launching electro-magnetic waves into dielectric waveguides, which include optical fibers. Intended for use with ribbon dielectric waveguides designed for operation at millimeter or submillimeter wavelengths, made of high-relative-permittivity, low-loss materials and thicknesses comparable to or less than free-space design wavelengths. Coupling efficiencies exceeds those of older tapered couplers.

  15. Polymer taper bridge for silicon waveguide to single mode waveguide coupling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kruse, Kevin; Middlebrook, Christopher T.

    2016-03-01

    Coupling of optical power from high-density silicon waveguides to silica optical fibers for signal routing can incur high losses and often requires complex end-face preparation/processing. Novel coupling device taper structures are proposed for low coupling loss between silicon photonic waveguides and single mode fibers are proposed and devices are fabricated and measured in terms of performance. Theoretical mode conversion models for waveguide tapers are derived for optimal device structure design and performance. Commercially viable vertical and multi-layer taper designs using polymer waveguide materials are proposed as innovative, cost-efficient, and mass-manufacturable optical coupling devices. The coupling efficiency for both designs is determined to evaluate optimal device dimensions and alignment tolerances with both silicon rib waveguides and silicon nanowire waveguides. Propagation loss as a function of waveguide roughness and metallic loss are determined and correlated to waveguide dimensions to obtain total insertion loss for the proposed taper designs. Multi-layer tapers on gold-sputtered substrates are fabricated through photolithography as proof-of-concept devices and evaluated for device loss optimization. Tapered waveguide coupling loss with Si WGs (2.74 dB) was experimentally measured with high correlation to theoretical results.

  16. Smart-phone based computational microscopy using multi-frame contact imaging on a fiber-optic array

    PubMed Central

    Navruz, Isa; Coskun, Ahmet F.; Wong, Justin; Mohammad, Saqib; Tseng, Derek; Nagi, Richie; Phillips, Stephen; Ozcan, Aydogan

    2013-01-01

    We demonstrate a cellphone based contact microscopy platform, termed Contact Scope, which can image highly dense or connected samples in transmission mode. Weighing approximately 76 grams, this portable and compact microscope is installed on the existing camera unit of a cellphone using an opto-mechanical add-on, where planar samples of interest are placed in contact with the top facet of a tapered fiber-optic array. This glass-based tapered fiber array has ∼9 fold higher density of fiber optic cables on its top facet compared to the bottom one and is illuminated by an incoherent light source, e.g., a simple light-emitting-diode (LED). The transmitted light pattern through the object is then sampled by this array of fiber optic cables, delivering a transmission image of the sample onto the other side of the taper, with ∼3× magnification in each direction. This magnified image of the object, located at the bottom facet of the fiber array, is then projected onto the CMOS image sensor of the cellphone using two lenses. While keeping the sample and the cellphone camera at a fixed position, the fiber-optic array is then manually rotated with discrete angular increments of e.g., 1-2 degrees. At each angular position of the fiber-optic array, contact images are captured using the cellphone camera, creating a sequence of transmission images for the same sample. These multi-frame images are digitally fused together based on a shift-and-add algorithm through a custom-developed Android application running on the smart-phone, providing the final microscopic image of the sample, visualized through the screen of the phone. This final computation step improves the resolution and also gets rid of spatial artefacts that arise due to non-uniform sampling of the transmission intensity at the fiber optic array surface. We validated the performance of this cellphone based Contact Scope by imaging resolution test charts and blood smears. PMID:23939637

  17. Smart-phone based computational microscopy using multi-frame contact imaging on a fiber-optic array.

    PubMed

    Navruz, Isa; Coskun, Ahmet F; Wong, Justin; Mohammad, Saqib; Tseng, Derek; Nagi, Richie; Phillips, Stephen; Ozcan, Aydogan

    2013-10-21

    We demonstrate a cellphone based contact microscopy platform, termed Contact Scope, which can image highly dense or connected samples in transmission mode. Weighing approximately 76 grams, this portable and compact microscope is installed on the existing camera unit of a cellphone using an opto-mechanical add-on, where planar samples of interest are placed in contact with the top facet of a tapered fiber-optic array. This glass-based tapered fiber array has ~9 fold higher density of fiber optic cables on its top facet compared to the bottom one and is illuminated by an incoherent light source, e.g., a simple light-emitting-diode (LED). The transmitted light pattern through the object is then sampled by this array of fiber optic cables, delivering a transmission image of the sample onto the other side of the taper, with ~3× magnification in each direction. This magnified image of the object, located at the bottom facet of the fiber array, is then projected onto the CMOS image sensor of the cellphone using two lenses. While keeping the sample and the cellphone camera at a fixed position, the fiber-optic array is then manually rotated with discrete angular increments of e.g., 1-2 degrees. At each angular position of the fiber-optic array, contact images are captured using the cellphone camera, creating a sequence of transmission images for the same sample. These multi-frame images are digitally fused together based on a shift-and-add algorithm through a custom-developed Android application running on the smart-phone, providing the final microscopic image of the sample, visualized through the screen of the phone. This final computation step improves the resolution and also removes spatial artefacts that arise due to non-uniform sampling of the transmission intensity at the fiber optic array surface. We validated the performance of this cellphone based Contact Scope by imaging resolution test charts and blood smears.

  18. Octave-spanning supercontinuum generation in in situ tapered As₂S₃ fiber pumped by a thulium-doped fiber laser.

    PubMed

    Rudy, Charles W; Marandi, Alireza; Vodopyanov, Konstantin L; Byer, Robert L

    2013-08-01

    We report a supercontinuum spanning well over an octave of measurable bandwidth from about 1 to 3.7 μm in a 2.1 mm long As₂S₃ fiber taper using the in situ tapering method. A sub-100-fs mode-locked thulium-doped fiber laser system with ~300 pJ of pulse energy was used as the pump source. Third-harmonic generation was observed and currently limits the pump pulse energy and achievable spectral bandwidth.

  19. Phase-shift detection in a Fourier-transform method for temperature sensing using a tapered fiber microknot resonator.

    PubMed

    Larocque, Hugo; Lu, Ping; Bao, Xiaoyi

    2016-04-01

    Phase-shift detection in a fast-Fourier-transform (FFT)-based spectrum analysis technique for temperature sensing using a tapered fiber microknot resonator is proposed and demonstrated. Multiple transmission peaks in the FFT spectrum of the device were identified as optical modes having completed different amounts of round trips within the ring structure. Temperature variation induced phase shifts for each set of peaks were characterized, and experimental results show that different peaks have distinct temperature sensitivities reaching values up to -0.542  rad/°C, which is about 10 times greater than that of a regular adiabatic taper Mach-Zehnder interferometer when using similar phase-tracking schemes.

  20. Optical fiber sensors based on nanostructured coatings fabricated by means of the layer-by-layer electrostatic self-assembly method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arregui, Francisco J.; Matías, Ignacio R.; Claus, Richard O.

    2007-07-01

    The Layer-by-Layer Electrostatic Self-Assembly (ESA) method has been successfully used for the design and fabrication of nanostructured materials. More specifically, this technique has been applied for the deposition of thin films on optical fibers with the purpose of fabricating different types of optical fiber sensors. In fact, optical fiber sensors for measuring humidity, temperature, pH, hydrogen peroxide, glucose, volatile organic compounds or even gluten have been already experimentally demonstrated. The versatility of this technique allows the deposition of these sensing coatings on flat substrates and complex geometries as well. For instance, nanoFabry-Perots and microgratings have been formed on cleaved ends of optical fibers (flat surfaces) and also sensing coatings have been built onto long period gratings (cylindrical shape), tapered fiber ends (conical shape), biconically tapered fibers or even the internal side of hollow core fibers. Among the different materials used for the construction of these sensing nanostructured coatings, diverse types such as polymers, inorganic semiconductors, colorimetric indicators, fluorescent dyes, quantum dots or even biological elements as enzymes can be found. This technique opens the door to the fabrication of new types of optical fiber sensors.

  1. Optical bending sensor using distributed feedback solid state dye lasers on optical fiber.

    PubMed

    Kubota, Hiroyuki; Oomi, Soichiro; Yoshioka, Hiroaki; Watanabe, Hirofumi; Oki, Yuji

    2012-07-02

    Novel type of optical fiber sensor was proposed and demonstrated. The print-like fabrication technique fabricates multiple distributed feedback solid state dye lasers on a polymeric optical fiber (POF) with tapered coupling. This multi-active-sidecore structure was easily fabricated and provides multiple functions. Mounting the lasers on the same point of a multimode POF demonstrated a bending radius sensitivity of 20 m without any supports. Two axis directional sensing without cross talk was also confirmed. A more complicated mounting formation can demonstrate a twisted POF. The temperature property of the sensor was also studied, and elimination of the temperature influence was experimentally attained.

  2. Fiber optic humidity sensor based on the graphene oxide/PVA composite film

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Youqing; Shen, Changyu; Lou, Weimin; Shentu, Fengying

    2016-08-01

    Fiber optic humidity sensor based on an in-fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) coated with graphene oxide (GO)/PVA composite film was investigated. The MZI is constructed of two waist-enlarged tapers. The length between two waist-enlarged tapers is 20 mm. By comparing the experiment results of MZI coated with different GO/PVA composite films, composite film formed by the ratio of 0.3 g PVA mixed with 10 ml GO dispersion shows a better performance of relative humidity sensing. By using the molecular structure model of the composited GO/PVA, the operation mechanism between GO/PVA composite film and water molecules was illustrated. The sensitivity of 0.193 dB/%RH with a linear correlation coefficient of 99.1% and good stability under the relative humidity range of 25-80% was obtained. Temperature effect on the proposed fiber optic humidity sensor was also considered and analyzed. According to the repetitive experimental results, the proposed humidity sensor shows a good repeatability.

  3. All-fiber radially/azimuthally polarized lasers based on mode coupling of tapered fibers.

    PubMed

    Mao, Dong; He, Zhiwen; Lu, Hua; Li, Mingkun; Zhang, Wending; Cui, Xiaoqi; Jiang, Biqiang; Zhao, Jianlin

    2018-04-01

    We demonstrate a mode converter with an insertion loss of 0.36 dB based on mode coupling of tapered single-mode and two-mode fibers, and realize all-fiber flexible cylindrical vector lasers at 1550 nm. Attributing to the continuous distribution of a tangential electric field at taper boundaries, the laser is switchable between the radially and azimuthally polarized states by adjusting the input polarization. In the temporal domain, the operation is controllable among continuous-wave, Q-switched, and mode-locked statuses by changing the saturable absorber or pump strength. The duration of Q-switched radially/azimuthally polarized laser spans from 10.4/10.8 to 6/6.4 μs at the pump range of 38 to 58 mW, while that of the mode-locked pulse varies from 39.2/31.9 to 5.6/5.2 ps by controlling the laser bandwidth. The proposed laser combines the features of a cylindrical vector beam, a fiber laser, and an ultrafast pulse, providing a special and cost-effective source for practical applications.

  4. Fiber cavity ring-down using an optical time-domain reflectometer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Passos, D. J.; Silva, S. O.; Fernandes, J. R. A.; Marques, M. B.; Frazão, O.

    2014-12-01

    This work presented a demonstration of the potential for a fiber based cavity ring-down (CRD) using an optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR). The OTDR was used to send the impulses down into about 20 km of a standard single optical fiber, at the end of which the fiber cavity ring-down was placed. The OTDR measured no appreciable losses, so other CRDs multiplexed could be spliced in parallel along the same optical fiber. To demonstrate the behavior and sensitivity of the proposed configuration, a displacement sensor based on a fiber taper with a diameter of 50 μm was placed inside the fiber loop, and the induced losses were measured on the CRD signal — a sensitivity of 11.8 ± 0.5 μs/mm was achieved. The dynamic range of the sensing head used in this configuration was about 2 mm. Finally, this work was also compared with different works published in the literature.

  5. Single tapered fiber tip for simultaneous measurements of thickness, refractive index and distance to a sample.

    PubMed

    Moreno-Hernández, Carlos; Monzón-Hernández, David; Hernández-Romano, Iván; Villatoro, Joel

    2015-08-24

    We demonstrate the capability of an air cavity Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI), built with a tapered lead-in fiber tip, to measure three parameters simultaneously, distance, group refractive index and thickness of transparent samples introduced in the cavity. Tapering the lead-in fiber enhances the light coupling back efficiency, therefore is possible to enlarge the air cavity without a significant deterioration of the fringe visibility. Fourier transformation, used to analyze the reflected optical spectrum of our FPI, simplify the calculus to determine the position, thickness and refractive index. Samples made of 7 different glasses; fused silica, BK7, BalF5, SF2, BaF51, SF15, and glass slides were used to test our FPI. Each sample was measured nine times and the results for position, thickness and refractive index showed differences of ± 0.7%, ± 0.1%, and ± 0.16% respectively. The evolution of thickness and refractive index of a block of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer due to temperature changes in the range of 25°C to 90°C were also measured. The coefficients of the thermal expansion and thermo-optic estimated were α = 4.71x10(-4)/°C and dn/dT = -4.66 x10(-4) RIU/°C, respectively.

  6. Improved extrinsic polymer optical fiber sensors for gamma-ray monitoring in radioprotection applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    de Andrés, A. I.; Esteban, Ó.; Embid, M.

    2017-08-01

    Gamma radiation detection in the range of 662 keV, the reference for environmental protection, is done through extrinsic optical fiber sensors. The fluorescence rendered by an inorganic scintillator when irradiated with such gamma rays is gathered by a modified polymer optical fiber tip. This modification increases the recorded signal when compared with plain unaltered fiber. Two fiber tip modification are then compared in terms of light gathering capability. A chemically etched fiber, in which the cladding and part of the core are removed, and a tapered fiber in which the core-cladding structure is kept. Both structures are comparable in length and final diameter, and show linear response in the tested range up to 2 Gy/h air Kerma rate. The etched fiber shows a higher slope than the tapered one, although both improve the signal gathered by a plain fiber tip. The easy fabrication and handling of the reported transducers, together with the improved signal gathering, allow to reduce the overall system budget with the use of low-cost optoelectronics in the detection stage. This offers a significant improvement for surveillance systems in radioprotection applications, in which presence of gamma radiation coming out accidental leakage or spurious sources activity is the main target.

  7. Tapered-fiber-based refractive index sensor at an air/solution interface.

    PubMed

    Lu, Ping; Harris, Jeremie; Wang, Xiaozhen; Lin, Ganbin; Chen, Liang; Bao, Xiaoyi

    2012-10-20

    An approach to achieve refractive index sensing at an air and aqueous glycerol solution interface is proposed using a tapered-fiber-based microfiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MFMZI). Compared to a surrounding uniform medium of air or solutions, the spectral interference visibility of the MFMZI at the air/solution interface is significantly reduced due to a weak coupling between the fundamental cladding mode and high-order asymmetric cladding modes, which are extremely sensitive to the external refractive index. The MFMZI is experimentally demonstrated as an evanescent wave refractive index sensor to measure concentrations of glycerol solutions by monitoring average power attenuation of the tapered fiber.

  8. Low-loss deposition of solgel-derived silica films on tapered fibers.

    PubMed

    Kakarantzas, G; Leon-Saval, S G; Birks, T A; Russell, P St J

    2004-04-01

    Films of porous silica are deposited on the uniform waists of tapered fibers in minutes by a modified solgel dip coating method, inducing less than 0.2 dB of loss. The coated tapers are an ideal platform for realizing all-fiber devices that exploit evanescent-field interactions with the deposited porous film. As an example we demonstrate structural long-period gratings in which a periodic index variation in the film arises from the porosity variation produced by spatially varying exposure of the waist to a scanned CO2 laser beam. The long period grating is insensitive to temperature up to 800 degrees C.

  9. Internal Mirror Optical Fiber Couplers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shin, Jong-Dug

    A fusion splicing technique has been used to produce angled dielectric mirrors in multimode and single-mode silica fibers. These mirrored fiber couplers serve as compact directional couplers with low excess optical loss (~0.2 dB for multimode and 0.5 dB for single mode at 1.3 μm) and excellent mechanical properties. The reflectance is found to be wavelength dependent and strongly polarization dependent, as expected. Far-field scans of the reflected output power measured with a white-light source show a pattern which is almost circularly symmetric. The splitting ratio in a multimode coupler measured with a laser source is much less dependent on input coupling conditions than in conventional fused biconical-taper couplers. Spectral properties of multilayer fiber mirrors have been investigated experimentally, and a matrix analysis has been used to explain the results.

  10. Liquid droplet sensing using twisted optical fiber couplers fabricated by hydrofluoric acid flow etching

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Son, Gyeongho; Jung, Youngho; Yu, Kyoungsik

    2017-04-01

    We report a directional-coupler-based refractive index sensor and its cost-effective fabrication method using hydrofluoric acid droplet wet-etching and surface-tension-driven liquid flows. The proposed fiber sensor consists of a pair of twisted tapered optical fibers with low excess losses. The fiber cores in the etched microfiber region are exposed to the surrounding medium for efficient interaction with the guided light. We observe that the etching-based low-loss fiber-optic sensors can measure the water droplet volume by detecting the refractive index changes of the surrounding medium around the etched fiber core region.

  11. Triggered optical biosensor

    DOEpatents

    Song, Xuedong; Swanson, Basil I.

    2001-10-02

    An optical biosensor is provided for the detection of a multivalent target biomolecule, the biosensor including a substrate having a bilayer membrane thereon, a recognition molecule situated at the surface, the recognition molecule capable of binding with the multivalent target biomolecule, the recognition molecule further characterized as including a fluorescence label thereon and as being movable at the surface and a device for measuring a fluorescence change in response to binding between the recognition molecule and the multivalent target biomolecule.

  12. Sol-Gel-Based Titania-Silica Thin Film Overlay for Long Period Fiber Grating-Based Biosensors.

    PubMed

    Chiavaioli, Francesco; Biswas, Palas; Trono, Cosimo; Jana, Sunirmal; Bandyopadhyay, Somnath; Basumallick, Nandini; Giannetti, Ambra; Tombelli, Sara; Bera, Susanta; Mallick, Aparajita; Baldini, Francesco

    2015-12-15

    An evanescent wave optical fiber biosensor based on titania-silica-coated long period grating (LPG) is presented. The chemical overlay, which increases the refractive index (RI) sensitivity of the sensor, consists of a sol-gel-based titania-silica thin film, deposited along the sensing portion of the fiber by means of the dip-coating technique. Changing both the sol viscosity and the withdrawal speed during the dip-coating made it possible to adjust the thickness of the film overlay, which is a crucial parameter for the sensor performance. After the functionalization of the fiber surface using a methacrylic acid/methacrylate copolymer, an antibody/antigen (IgG/anti-IgG) assay was carried out to assess the performance of sol-gel based titania-silica-coated LPGs as biosensors. The analyte concentration was determined from the wavelength shift at the end of the binding process and from the initial binding rate. This is the first time that a sol-gel based titania-silica-coated LPG is proposed as an effective and feasible label-free biosensor. The specificity of the sensor was validated by performing the same model assay after spiking anti-IgG into human serum. With this structured LPG, detection limits of the order of tens of micrograms per liter (10(-11) M) are attained.

  13. Yb-doped large mode area tapered fiber with depressed cladding and dopant confinement

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Roy, V.; Paré, C.; Labranche, B.; Laperle, P.; Desbiens, L.; Boivin, M.; Taillon, Y.

    2017-02-01

    A polarization-maintaining Yb-doped large mode area fiber with depressed-index inner cladding layer and confinement of rare-earth dopants has been drawn as a long tapered fiber. The larger end features a core/clad diameter of 56/400 μm and core NA 0.07, thus leading to an effective mode area over 1000 μm2. The fiber was tested up to 100 W average power, with near diffraction-limited output as the beam quality M2 was measured < 1.2. As effective single-mode guidance is enforced in the first section due to enhanced bending loss, subsequent adiabatic transition of the mode field in the taper section preserves single-mode amplification towards the larger end of the fiber.

  14. Low-temperature cross-talk magnetic-field sensor based on tapered all-solid waveguide-array fiber and magnetic fluids.

    PubMed

    Miao, Yinping; Ma, Xixi; Wu, Jixuan; Song, Binbin; Zhang, Hao; Zhang, Kailiang; Liu, Bo; Yao, Jianquan

    2015-08-15

    A compact fiber-optic magnetic-field sensor based on tapered all-solid waveguide-array fiber (WAF) and magnetic fluid (MF) has been proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The tapered all-solid WAF is fabricated by using a fusion splicer, and the sensor is formed by immersing the tapered all-solid WAF into the MF. The transmission spectra have been measured and analyzed under different magnetic-field intensities. Experimental results show that the acquired magnetic-field sensitivity is 44.57 pm/Oe for a linear magnetic-field intensity range from 50 to 200 Oe. All-solid WAF has very similar thermal expansion coefficient for high- and low-refractive-index glasses, so mode profile is not affected by thermal drifts. Also, magnetically induced refractive-index changes into the ferrofluid are of the order of ∼5×10(-2), while the corresponding thermally induced refractive-index changes into the ferrofluid are expected to be lower. The temperature response has also been detected, and the temperature-induced wavelength shift perturbation is less than 0.3 nm from temperature of 26.9°C-44°C. The proposed magnetic-field sensor has such advantages as low temperature sensitivity, simple structure, and ease of fabrication. It also indicates that the magnetic-field sensor based on tapered all-solid WAF and MF is helpful to reduce temperature cross-sensitivity for the measurement of magnetic field.

  15. Resin Viscosity Influence on Fiber Compaction in Tapered Resin Injection Pultrusion Manufacturing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Masuram, N. B.; Roux, J. A.; Jeswani, A. L.

    2018-06-01

    Viscosity of the liquid resin effects the chemical and mechanical properties of the pultruded composite. In resin injection pultrusion manufacturing the liquid resin is injected into a specially designed tapered injection chamber through the injection slots present on top and bottom of the chamber. The resin is injected at a pressure so as to completely wetout the fiber reinforcements inside the tapered injection chamber. As the resin penetrates through the fibers, the resin also pushes the fibers away from the wall towards the center of chamber causing compaction of the fiber reinforcements. The fibers are squeezed together due to compaction, making resin penetration more difficult; thus higher resin injection pressures are required to efficaciously penetrate through the compacted fibers and achieve complete wetout. The impact of resin viscosity on resin flow, fiber compaction, wetout and on the final product is further discussed. Injection chamber design predominantly effects the resin flow inside the chamber and the minimum injection pressure required to completely wet the fibers. Therefore, a desirable injection chamber design is such that wetout occurs at lower injection pressures and at low internal pressures inside the injection chamber.

  16. Resin Viscosity Influence on Fiber Compaction in Tapered Resin Injection Pultrusion Manufacturing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Masuram, N. B.; Roux, J. A.; Jeswani, A. L.

    2017-08-01

    Viscosity of the liquid resin effects the chemical and mechanical properties of the pultruded composite. In resin injection pultrusion manufacturing the liquid resin is injected into a specially designed tapered injection chamber through the injection slots present on top and bottom of the chamber. The resin is injected at a pressure so as to completely wetout the fiber reinforcements inside the tapered injection chamber. As the resin penetrates through the fibers, the resin also pushes the fibers away from the wall towards the center of chamber causing compaction of the fiber reinforcements. The fibers are squeezed together due to compaction, making resin penetration more difficult; thus higher resin injection pressures are required to efficaciously penetrate through the compacted fibers and achieve complete wetout. The impact of resin viscosity on resin flow, fiber compaction, wetout and on the final product is further discussed. Injection chamber design predominantly effects the resin flow inside the chamber and the minimum injection pressure required to completely wet the fibers. Therefore, a desirable injection chamber design is such that wetout occurs at lower injection pressures and at low internal pressures inside the injection chamber.

  17. Rapid constructions of microstructures for optical fiber sensors using a commercial CO2 laser system.

    PubMed

    Irawan, Rudi; Chuan, Tjin Swee; Meng, Tay Chia; Ming, Tan Khay

    2008-06-27

    Exposing an optical fiber core to the measurand surrounding the fiber is often used to enhance the sensitivity of an optical fiber sensor. This paper reports on the rapid fabrication of microstructures in an optical fiber using a CO₂ laser system which help exposing the optical fiber core to the measurand. The direct-write CO₂ laser system used is originally designed for engraving the polymeric material. Fabrications of microstructures such as in-fiber microhole, D-shaped fiber, in-fiber microchannel, side-sliced fiber and tapered fiber were attempted. The microstructures in the fibers were examined using a SEM and an optical microscope. Quality of microstructures shown by the SEM images and promising results from fluorescence sensor tests using in-fiber microchannels of 100μm width, 210μm depth and 10mm length show the prospect of this method for use in optical fiber sensor development. The direct-write CO₂ laser system is a flexible and fast machining tool for fabricating microstructures in an optical fiber, and can possibly be a replacement of the time consuming chemical etching and polishing methods used for microstructure fabrications of optical the fiber sensors reported in other literatures.

  18. Nano-yarn carbon nanotube fiber based enzymatic glucose biosensor

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhu, Zhigang; Song, Wenhui; Burugapalli, Krishna; Moussy, Francis; Li, Ya-Li; Zhong, Xiao-Hua

    2010-04-01

    A novel brush-like electrode based on carbon nanotube (CNT) nano-yarn fiber has been designed for electrochemical biosensor applications and its efficacy as an enzymatic glucose biosensor demonstrated. The CNT nano-yarn fiber was spun directly from a chemical-vapor-deposition (CVD) gas flow reaction using a mixture of ethanol and acetone as the carbon source and an iron nano-catalyst. The fiber, 28 µm in diameter, was made of bundles of double walled CNTs (DWNTs) concentrically compacted into multiple layers forming a nano-porous network structure. Cyclic voltammetry study revealed a superior electrocatalytic activity for CNT fiber compared to the traditional Pt-Ir coil electrode. The electrode end tip of the CNT fiber was freeze-fractured to obtain a unique brush-like nano-structure resembling a scale-down electrical 'flex', where glucose oxidase (GOx) enzyme was immobilized using glutaraldehyde crosslinking in the presence of bovine serum albumin (BSA). An outer epoxy-polyurethane (EPU) layer was used as semi-permeable membrane. The sensor function was tested against a standard reference electrode. The sensitivities, linear detection range and linearity for detecting glucose for the miniature CNT fiber electrode were better than that reported for a Pt-Ir coil electrode. Thermal annealing of the CNT fiber at 250 °C for 30 min prior to fabrication of the sensor resulted in a 7.5 fold increase in glucose sensitivity. The as-spun CNT fiber based glucose biosensor was shown to be stable for up to 70 days. In addition, gold coating of the electrode connecting end of the CNT fiber resulted in extending the glucose detection limit to 25 µM. To conclude, superior efficiency of CNT fiber for glucose biosensing was demonstrated compared to a traditional Pt-Ir sensor.

  19. The tension sensor of Photonic Crystal Fiber based on core-offset splicing and waist-enlarged fiber taper

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fu, Guangwei; Li, Qifeng; Li, Yunpu; Yang, Jiandong; Fu, Xinghu; Bi, Weihong; Li, Yanjun

    2016-10-01

    A tension sensor of Photonic Crystal Fiber(PCF) is presented based on core-offset splicing and waist-enlarged fiber taper. The tension response characteristics of the sensor are studied experimentally. To analyzing the modal interference, many samples with different PCF lengths between the two splicing areas, different core-offset distances and different waist-enlarged fiber taper diameters are fabricated and tested. When the tension range is 0 to 4000μɛ, the results show that the spectrum is blue shift with the increasing of the axial tension. The sensitivity is-2.1 pm/μɛ. The experimental results show that the tension sensitivity can be not influenced by the PCF lengths, the core-offset distances.The waist-enlarged fiber taper diameters and the tension sensor is very sensitive to axial tension and the relationship between the wavelength shift and tension is linearity. To determine the number of the interfering modes, the transmission spectra of these sensor is transformed by the fast fourier transform (FFT) method. There are several peaks in the spatial frequency spectra at these sensors. Only one cladding mode is dominantly excited, while the other cladding modes are weak. The spatial frequency is proportional to the differential mode group index. Compared with the traditional fiber sensor, this sensor has some advantages including the easily fabricated, simple structure and high sensitivity. It can be used in industrial production, building monitoring, aerospace and other fields.

  20. Extrinsic fiber optic displacement sensors and displacement sensing systems

    DOEpatents

    Murphy, K.A.; Gunther, M.F.; Vengsarkar, A.M.; Claus, R.O.

    1994-04-05

    An extrinsic Fizeau fiber optic sensor comprises a single-mode fiber, used as an input/output fiber, and a multimode fiber, used purely as a reflector, to form an air gap within a silica tube that acts as a Fizeau cavity. The Fresnel reflection from the glass/air interface at the front of the air gap (reference reflection) and the reflection from the air/glass interface at the far end of the air gap (sensing reflection) interfere in the input/output fiber. The two fibers are allowed to move in the silica tube, and changes in the air gap length cause changes in the phase difference between the reference reflection and the sensing reflection. This phase difference is observed as changes in intensity of the light monitored at the output arm of a fused biconical tapered coupler. The extrinsic Fizeau fiber optic sensor behaves identically whether it is surface mounted or embedded, which is unique to the extrinsic sensor in contrast to intrinsic Fabry-Perot sensors. The sensor may be modified to provide a quadrature phase shift extrinsic Fizeau fiber optic sensor for the detection of both the amplitude and the relative polarity of dynamically varying strain. The quadrature light signals may be generated by either mechanical or optical means. A plurality of the extrinsic sensors may connected in cascade and multiplexed to allow monitoring by a single analyzer. 14 figures.

  1. Extrinsic fiber optic displacement sensors and displacement sensing systems

    DOEpatents

    Murphy, Kent A.; Gunther, Michael F.; Vengsarkar, Ashish M.; Claus, Richard O.

    1994-01-01

    An extrinsic Fizeau fiber optic sensor comprises a single-mode fiber, used as an input/output fiber, and a multimode fiber, used purely as a reflector, to form an air gap within a silica tube that acts as a Fizeau cavity. The Fresnel reflection from the glass/air interface at the front of the air gap (reference reflection) and the reflection from the air/glass interface at the far end of the air gap (sensing reflection) interfere in the input/output fiber. The two fibers are allowed to move in the silica tube, and changes in the air gap length cause changes in the phase difference between the reference reflection and the sensing reflection. This phase difference is observed as changes in intensity of the light monitored at the output arm of a fused biconical tapered coupler. The extrinsic Fizeau fiber optic sensor behaves identically whether it is surface mounted or embedded, which is unique to the extrinsic sensor in contrast to intrinsic Fabry-Perot sensors. The sensor may be modified to provide a quadrature phase shift extrinsic Fizeau fiber optic sensor for the detection of both the amplitude and the relative polarity of dynamically varying strain. The quadrature light signals may be generated by either mechanical or optical means. A plurality of the extrinsic sensors may connected in cascade and multiplexed to allow monitoring by a single analyzer.

  2. Optical fiber extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometric (EFPI)-based biosensors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Elster, Jennifer L.; Jones, Mark E.; Evans, Mishell K.; Lenahan, Shannon M.; Boyce, Christopher A.; Velander, William H.; VanTassell, Roger

    2000-05-01

    A novel system incorporating optical fiber extrinsic Fabry- Perot interferometric (EFPI)-based sensors for rapid detection of biological targets is presented. With the appropriate configuration, the EFPI senor is able to measure key environmental parameters by monitoring the interferometric fringes resulting from an optical path differences of reflected signals. The optical fiber EFPI sensor has been demonstrated for strain, pressure, and temperature measurements and can be readily modified for refractive index measurements by allowing solutions to flow into an open cavity. The sensor allows for highly sensitive, real-time, refractive index measurements and by applying affinity coatings containing ligands within this cavity, specific binding of target molecules can be accomplished. As target molecules bind to the coating, there is an increased density within the film, causing a measurable refractive index change that correlates to the concentration of detected target molecules. This sensor platform offers enhanced sensing capabilities for clinical diagnostics, pharmaceutical screening, environmental monitoring, food pathogen detection, biological warfare agent detection, and industrial bioprocessing. Promising applications also exist for process monitoring within the food/beverage, petroleum, and chemical industry.

  3. Vector rectangular-shape laser based on reduced graphene oxide interacting with a long fiber taper.

    PubMed

    Gao, Lei; Zhu, Tao; Huang, Wei; Zeng, Jing

    2014-10-01

    A vector dual-wavelength rectangular-shape laser (RSL) based on a long fiber taper deposited with reduced graphene oxide is proposed, where nonlinearity is enhanced due to a large evanescent-field-interacting length and strong field confinement of an 8 mm fiber taper with a waist diameter of 4 μm. Graphene flakes are deposited uniformly on the taper waist with light pressure effect, so this structure guarantees both excellent saturable absorption and high nonlinearity. The RSL with a repetition rate of 7.9 MHz shows fast polarization switching in two orthogonal polarization directions, and temporal and spectral characteristics are investigated.

  4. Optical and electrical characterizations of multifunctional silver phosphate glass and polymer-based optical fibers.

    PubMed

    Rioux, Maxime; Ledemi, Yannick; Morency, Steeve; de Lima Filho, Elton Soares; Messaddeq, Younès

    2017-03-03

    In recent years, the fabrication of multifunctional fibers has expanded for multiple applications that require the transmission of both light and electricity. Fibers featuring these two properties are usually composed either of a single material that supports the different characteristics or of a combination of different materials. In this work, we fabricated (i) novel single-core step-index optical fibers made of electrically conductive AgI-AgPO 3 -WO 3 glass and (ii) novel multimaterial fibers with different designs made of AgI-AgPO 3 -WO 3 glass and optically transparent polycarbonate and poly (methyl methacrylate) polymers. The multifunctional fibers produced show light transmission over a wide range of wavelengths from 500 to 1000 nm for the single-core fibers and from 400 to 1000 nm for the multimaterial fibers. Furthermore, these fibers showed excellent electrical conductivity with values ranging between 10 -3 and 10 -1  S·cm -1 at room temperature within the range of AC frequencies from 1 Hz to 1 MHz. Multimodal taper-tipped fibre microprobes were then fabricated and were characterized. This advanced design could provide promising tools for in vivo electrophysiological experiments that require light delivery through an optical core in addition to neuronal activity recording.

  5. Optical and electrical characterizations of multifunctional silver phosphate glass and polymer-based optical fibers

    PubMed Central

    Rioux, Maxime; Ledemi, Yannick; Morency, Steeve; de Lima Filho, Elton Soares; Messaddeq, Younès

    2017-01-01

    In recent years, the fabrication of multifunctional fibers has expanded for multiple applications that require the transmission of both light and electricity. Fibers featuring these two properties are usually composed either of a single material that supports the different characteristics or of a combination of different materials. In this work, we fabricated (i) novel single-core step-index optical fibers made of electrically conductive AgI-AgPO3-WO3 glass and (ii) novel multimaterial fibers with different designs made of AgI-AgPO3-WO3 glass and optically transparent polycarbonate and poly (methyl methacrylate) polymers. The multifunctional fibers produced show light transmission over a wide range of wavelengths from 500 to 1000 nm for the single-core fibers and from 400 to 1000 nm for the multimaterial fibers. Furthermore, these fibers showed excellent electrical conductivity with values ranging between 10−3 and 10−1 S·cm−1 at room temperature within the range of AC frequencies from 1 Hz to 1 MHz. Multimodal taper-tipped fibre microprobes were then fabricated and were characterized. This advanced design could provide promising tools for in vivo electrophysiological experiments that require light delivery through an optical core in addition to neuronal activity recording. PMID:28256608

  6. Sub-MW peak power diffraction-limited chirped-pulse monolithic Yb-doped tapered fiber amplifier.

    PubMed

    Bobkov, Konstantin; Andrianov, Alexey; Koptev, Maxim; Muravyev, Sergey; Levchenko, Andrei; Velmiskin, Vladimir; Aleshkina, Svetlana; Semjonov, Sergey; Lipatov, Denis; Guryanov, Alexey; Kim, Arkady; Likhachev, Mikhail

    2017-10-30

    We demonstrate a novel amplification regime in a counter-pumped, relatively long (2 meters), large mode area, highly Yb-doped and polarization-maintaining tapered fiber, which offers a high peak power directly from the amplifier. The main feature of this regime is that the amplifying signal propagates through a thin part of the tapered fiber without amplification and experiences an extremely high gain in the thick part of the tapered fiber, where most of the pump power is absorbed. In this regime, we have demonstrated 8 ps pulse amplification to a peak power of up to 0.76 MW, which is limited by appearance of stimulated Raman scattering. In the same regime, 28 ps chirped pulses are amplified to a peak power of 0.35 MW directly from the amplifier and then compressed with 70% efficiency to 315 ± 10 fs, corresponding to an estimated peak power of 22 MW.

  7. DNA origami nanorobot fiber optic genosensor to TMV.

    PubMed

    Torelli, Emanuela; Manzano, Marisa; Srivastava, Sachin K; Marks, Robert S

    2018-01-15

    In the quest of greater sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic systems, one continually searches for alternative DNA hybridization methods, enabling greater versatility and where possible field-enabled detection of target analytes. We present, herein, a hybrid molecular self-assembled scaffolded DNA origami entity, intimately immobilized via capture probes linked to aminopropyltriethoxysilane, onto a glass optical fiber end-face transducer, thus producing a novel biosensor. Immobilized DNA nanorobots with a switchable flap can then be actuated by a specific target DNA present in a sample, by exposing a hemin/G-quadruplex DNAzyme, which then catalyzes the generation of chemiluminescence, once the specific fiber probes are immersed in a luminol-based solution. Integrating organic nanorobots to inorganic fiber optics creates a hybrid system that we demonstrate as a proof-of-principle can be utilized in specific DNA sequence detection. This system has potential applications in a wide range of fields, including point-of-care diagnostics or cellular in vivo biosensing when using ultrathin fiber optic probes for research purposes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. Fiber optofluidic biosensor for the label-free detection of DNA hybridization and methylation based on an in-line tunable mode coupler.

    PubMed

    Gao, Ran; Lu, Dan-Feng; Cheng, Jin; Jiang, Yi; Jiang, Lan; Xu, Jian-Dong; Qi, Zhi-Mei

    2016-12-15

    An optical fiber optofluidic biosensor for the detection of DNA hybridization and methylation has been proposed and experimentally demonstrated. An in-line fiber Michelson interferometer was formed in the photonic crystal fiber. A micrhole in the collapsed region, which combined the tunable mode coupler and optofluidic channel, was fabricated by using femtosecond laser micromachining. The mode field diameter of the guided light is changed with the refractive index in the optofluidic channel, which results in the tunable coupling ratio. Label-free detections of the DNA hybridization and methylation have been experimentally demonstrated. The probe single stranded DNA (ssDNA) was bound with the surface of the optofluidic channel through the Poly-l-lysine layer, and the hybridization between a short 22-mer probe ssDNA and a complementary target ssDNA was carried out and detected by interrogating the fringe visibility of the reflection spectrum. Then, the DNA methylation was also detected through the binding between the methylated DNA and the 5-methylcytosine (5-mC) monoclonal antibody. The experiments results demonstrate that the limit of detection of 5nM is achieved, establishing the tunable mode coupler as a sensitive and versatile biosensor. The sensitive optical fiber optofluidic biosensor possesses high specificity and low temperature cross-sensitivity. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Integrated polarizers based on tapered highly birefringent photonic crystal fibers.

    PubMed

    Romagnoli, Priscila; Biazoli, Claudecir R; Franco, Marcos A R; Cordeiro, Cristiano M B; de Matos, Christiano J S

    2014-07-28

    This paper proposes and demonstrates the creation of sections with a high polarization dependent loss (PDL) in a commercial highly birefringent (polarization maintaining) photonic crystal fiber (PCF), via tapering with pressure applied to the holes. The tapers had a 1-cm-long uniform section with a 66% scale reduction, in which the original microstructure aspect ratio was kept by the pressure application. The resulting waveguides show polarizing action across the entire tested wavelength range, 1510-1600 nm, with a peak PDL of 35.3 dB/cm (c.f. ~1 dB/cm for a typical commercial polarizing fiber). The resulting structure, as well as its production, is extremely simple, and enable a small section with a high PDL to be obtained in a polarization maintaining PCF, meaning that the polarization axes in the polarizing and polarization maintaining sections are automatically aligned.

  10. A tapered dielectric waveguide solar concentrator for a compound semiconductor photovoltaic cell.

    PubMed

    Park, Minkyu; Oh, Kyunghwan; Kim, Jeong; Shin, Hyun Woo; Oh, Byung Du

    2010-01-18

    A novel tapered dielectric waveguide solar concentrator is proposed for compound semiconductor solar cells utilizing optical fiber preform. Its light collecting capability is numerically simulated and experimentally demonstrated for feasibility and potential assessments. Utilizing tapered shape of an optical fiber preform with a step-index profile, low loss guidance was enhanced and the limitation in the acceptance angle of solar radiation was alleviated by an order of magnitude. Using a solar simulator the device performances were experimentally investigated and discussed in terms of the photocurrent improvements. Total acceptance angle exceeding +/- 6 degrees was experimentally achieved sustaining a high solar flux.

  11. Tapered fiber coupling of single photons emitted by a deterministically positioned single nitrogen vacancy center

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Liebermeister, Lars, E-mail: lars.liebermeister@physik.uni-muenchen.de; Petersen, Fabian; Münchow, Asmus v.

    2014-01-20

    A diamond nano-crystal hosting a single nitrogen vacancy (NV) center is optically selected with a confocal scanning microscope and positioned deterministically onto the subwavelength-diameter waist of a tapered optical fiber (TOF) with the help of an atomic force microscope. Based on this nano-manipulation technique, we experimentally demonstrate the evanescent coupling of single fluorescence photons emitted by a single NV-center to the guided mode of the TOF. By comparing photon count rates of the fiber-guided and the free-space modes and with the help of numerical finite-difference time domain simulations, we determine a lower and upper bound for the coupling efficiency ofmore » (9.5 ± 0.6)% and (10.4 ± 0.7)%, respectively. Our results are a promising starting point for future integration of single photon sources into photonic quantum networks and applications in quantum information science.« less

  12. Rapid Constructions of Microstructures for Optical Fiber Sensors Using a Commercial CO2 Laser System

    PubMed Central

    Irawan, Rudi; Chuan, Tjin Swee; Meng, Tay Chia; Ming, Tan Khay

    2008-01-01

    Exposing an optical fiber core to the measurand surrounding the fiber is often used to enhance the sensitivity of an optical fiber sensor. This paper reports on the rapid fabrication of microstructures in an optical fiber using a CO2 laser system which help exposing the optical fiber core to the measurand. The direct-write CO2 laser system used is originally designed for engraving the polymeric material. Fabrications of microstructures such as in-fiber microhole, D-shaped fiber, in-fiber microchannel, side-sliced fiber and tapered fiber were attempted. The microstructures in the fibers were examined using a SEM and an optical microscope. Quality of microstructures shown by the SEM images and promising results from fluorescence sensor tests using in-fiber microchannels of 100μm width, 210μm depth and 10mm length show the prospect of this method for use in optical fiber sensor development. The direct-write CO2 laser system is a flexible and fast machining tool for fabricating microstructures in an optical fiber, and can possibly be a replacement of the time consuming chemical etching and polishing methods used for microstructure fabrications of optical the fiber sensors reported in other literatures. PMID:19662114

  13. Mid-infrared supercontinuum generation spanning from 1.9 to 5.7 μm in a chalcogenide fiber taper with ultra-high NA

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Yingying; Dai, Shixun; Peng, Xuefeng; Zhang, Peiqing; Wang, Xunsi; You, Chenyang

    2018-01-01

    We report a broadband supercontinuum generation in a chalcogenide fiber taper with an ultra-high numerical aperture. The chalcogenide step-index fiber consisting of As2Se3 core and As2S3 cladding was fabricated by using the isolated stacked extrusion method. The fiber taper with a core diameter of 1.75 μm was prepared by employing a homemade tapering setup. By pumping the fiber taper with a femtosecond laser pulses at 3.3 μm, a broadband supercontinuum generation spanning from 1.9 to 5.7 μm was achieved.

  14. Thin Hydrogel Films for Optical Biosensor Applications

    PubMed Central

    Mateescu, Anca; Wang, Yi; Dostalek, Jakub; Jonas, Ulrich

    2012-01-01

    Hydrogel materials consisting of water-swollen polymer networks exhibit a large number of specific properties highly attractive for a variety of optical biosensor applications. This properties profile embraces the aqueous swelling medium as the basis of biocompatibility, non-fouling behavior, and being not cell toxic, while providing high optical quality and transparency. The present review focuses on some of the most interesting aspects of surface-attached hydrogel films as active binding matrices in optical biosensors based on surface plasmon resonance and optical waveguide mode spectroscopy. In particular, the chemical nature, specific properties, and applications of such hydrogel surface architectures for highly sensitive affinity biosensors based on evanescent wave optics are discussed. The specific class of responsive hydrogel systems, which can change their physical state in response to externally applied stimuli, have found large interest as sophisticated materials that provide a complex behavior to hydrogel-based sensing devices. PMID:24957962

  15. White light supercontinuum generation in a Y-shaped microstructured tapered fiber pumped at 1064 nm.

    PubMed

    Cascante-Vindas, J; Díez, A; Cruz, J L; Andrés, M V

    2010-07-05

    We report the generation of supercontinuum in a Ge-doped Y-shape tapered fiber pumped at 1064 nm in the ns pump regime. The taper was designed to have long taper transitions and a taper waist with a core diameter of 0.9 mum. The large air-filling fraction and diameter of the air-hole microstructure reduces the confinement loss at long wavelengths so, enabling the extension of the spectrum to longer wavelengths. Along the taper transition the zero-dispersion wavelength decreases as the diameter of the taper becomes smaller. The spectral components generated along the taper transition pump the taper waist, enhancing the generation of short wavelengths. A flat spectrum spanning from 420 nm to 1850 nm is reported.

  16. Fiber optic evanescent wave (FOEW) microbial sensor for dental application

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kishen, Anil; John, M. S.; Chen, Jun-Wei; Lim, Chu S.; Hu, Xiao; Asundi, Anand K.

    2001-10-01

    In this work a new approach based on the fiber Optic Evanescent Wave (FOEW) Spectroscopy is developed for the effective determination of dental caries activity in human saliva. The biosensor design utilized the exponentially decaying wave that extends to the lower index region of the optical fiber's core-cladding interface. In order to achieve this, a short length of the cladding is removed and the fiber core surface is coated with a porous glass medium using sol-gel technique. The acidogenic profile resulting from the Streptococcus mutans activity in the human saliva is monitored using an indicator, which was encapsulated within the porous coating. These investigations display the potential benefits of FOEW based microbial sensor to monitor caries activity in human saliva.

  17. 200-W single frequency laser based on short active double clad tapered fiber

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pierre, Christophe; Guiraud, Germain; Yehouessi, Jean-Paul; Santarelli, Giorgio; Boullet, Johan; Traynor, Nicholas; Vincont, Cyril

    2018-02-01

    High power single frequency lasers are very attractive for a wide range of applications such as nonlinear conversion, gravitational wave sensing or atom trapping. Power scaling in single frequency regime is a challenging domain of research. In fact, nonlinear effect as stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) is the primary power limitation in single frequency amplifiers. To mitigate SBS, different well-known techniques has been improved. These techniques allow generation of several hundred of watts [1]. Large mode area (LMA) fibers, transverse acoustically tailored fibers [2], coherent beam combining and also tapered fiber [3] seem to be serious candidates to continue the power scaling. We have demonstrated the generation of stable 200W output power with nearly diffraction limited output, and narrow linewidth (Δν<30kHz) by using a tapered Yb-doped fiber which allow an adiabatic transition from a small purely single mode input to a large core output.

  18. Ultra-large core birefringent Yb-doped tapered double clad fiber for high power amplifiers.

    PubMed

    Fedotov, Andrey; Noronen, Teppo; Gumenyuk, Regina; Ustimchik, Vasiliy; Chamorovskii, Yuri; Golant, Konstantin; Odnoblyudov, Maxim; Rissanen, Joona; Niemi, Tapio; Filippov, Valery

    2018-03-19

    We present a birefringent Yb-doped tapered double-clad fiber with a record core diameter of 96 µm. An impressive gain of over 38 dB was demonstrated for linearly polarized CW and pulsed sources at a wavelength of 1040 nm. For the CW regime the output power was70 W. For a mode-locked fiber laser a pulse energy of 28 µJ with 292 kW peak power was reached at an average output power of 28 W for a 1 MHz repetition rate. The tapered double-clad fiber has a high value of polarization extinction ratio at 30 dB and is capable of delivering the linearly polarized diffraction-limited beam (M 2 = 1.09).

  19. 1.4-7.2  μm broadband supercontinuum generation in an As-S chalcogenide tapered fiber pumped in the normal dispersion regime.

    PubMed

    Wang, Yingying; Dai, Shixun; Li, Guangtao; Xu, Dong; You, Chenyang; Han, Xin; Zhang, Peiqing; Wang, Xunsi; Xu, Peipeng

    2017-09-01

    We report a broadband supercontinuum (SC) generation in chalcogenide (ChG) step-index tapered fibers pumped in the normal dispersion regime. The fibers consisting of As 2 S 3 core and As 38 S 62 cladding glasses were fabricated using the isolated stacked extrusion method. A homemade tapering platform allows us to accurately control the core diameters and transition region lengths of the tapered fibers. An SC generation spanning from 1.4 to 7.2 μm was achieved by pumping a 12-cm-long tapered fiber with femtosecond laser pulses at 3.25 μm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the broadest SC generation obtained experimentally in tapered fibers when pumped in the normal dispersion regime so far. The effects of waist diameter and transition region length of the tapered fiber on the SC spectral behavior were also investigated.

  20. Microstructured optical fiber-based luminescent biosensing: Is there any light at the end of the tunnel? - A review.

    PubMed

    Pidenko, Sergey A; Burmistrova, Natalia A; Shuvalov, Andrey A; Chibrova, Anastasiya A; Skibina, Yulia S; Goryacheva, Irina Y

    2018-08-17

    This review covers the current state of the art of luminescent biosensors based on various types of microstructured optical fiber. The unique optical and structural properties of this type of optical fiber make them one of the most promising integrated platforms for bioassays. The individual sections of this review are devoted to a) classification of microstructured optical fibers, b) microstructured optical fiber materials, c) aspects of biosensing based on the biomolecules incorporated into the microstructured optical fibers, and d) development of models for prediction of the efficiency of luminescent signal processing. The authors' views on current trends and limitations of microstructured optical fibers for biosensing as well as the most promising areas and technologies for application in analytical practice are presented. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Mode-field adapter for tapered-fiber-bundle signal and pump combiners.

    PubMed

    Koška, Pavel; Baravets, Yauhen; Peterka, Pavel; Bohata, Jan; Písařík, Michael

    2015-02-01

    We report on a novel mode-field adapter that is proposed to be incorporated inside tapered fused-fiber-bundle pump and signal combiners for high-power double-clad fiber lasers. Such an adapter allows optimization of signal-mode-field matching on the input and output fibers. Correspondingly, losses of the combiner signal branch are significantly reduced. The mode-field adapter optimization procedure is demonstrated on a combiner based on commercially available fibers. Signal wavelengths of 1.55 and 2 μm are considered. The losses can be further improved by using specially designed intermediate fiber and by dopant diffusion during splicing as confirmed by preliminary experimental results.

  2. A nanodiamond-tapered fiber system with high single-mode coupling efficiency.

    PubMed

    Schröder, Tim; Fujiwara, Masazumi; Noda, Tetsuya; Zhao, Hong-Quan; Benson, Oliver; Takeuchi, Shigeki

    2012-05-07

    We present a fiber-coupled diamond-based single photon system. Single nanodiamonds containing nitrogen vacancy defect centers are deposited on a tapered fiber of 273 nanometer in diameter providing a record-high number of 689,000 single photons per second from a defect center in a single-mode fiber. The system can be cooled to cryogenic temperatures and coupled evanescently to other nanophotonic structures, such as microresonators. The system is suitable for integrated quantum transmission experiments, two-photon interference, quantum-random-number generation and nano-magnetometry.

  3. Chemical Silver Coating of Fiber Tips in Near-Field Scanning Optical Microscopy

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Vikram, Chandra S.; Witherow, William K.

    1998-01-01

    We report what is believed to be the first experimental demonstration of silver coating by a wet chemical process on tapered fiber tips used in near-field scanning optical microscopy. The process is at room temperature and pressure and takes only a few minutes to complete. Many tips can be simultaneously coated.

  4. Escherichia coli Fiber Sensors Using Concentrated Dielectrophoretic Force with Optical Defocusing Method.

    PubMed

    Tai, Yi-Hsin; Lee, Chia-Wei; Chang, Dao-Ming; Lai, Yu-Sheng; Huang, Ding-Wei; Wei, Pei-Kuen

    2018-05-25

    A sensitive tapered optical fiber tip combined with dielectrophoretic (DEP) trapping was used for rapid and label-free detection of bacteria in water. The angular spectrum of the optical field at the fiber tip was changed with the surrounding refractive index (RI). By measuring far-field intensity change at the defocus plane, the intensity sensitivity was up to 95 200%/RIU (RI unit), and the detection limit was 5.2 × 10 -6 RIU at 0.5% intensity stability. By applying an AC voltage to a Ti/Al coated fiber tip and an indium-tin-oxide glass, the DEP force effectively trapped the Escherichia coli ( E. coli) near the fiber tip. Those bacteria can be directly measured from optical intensity change due to the increase of surrounding RI. By immobilizing the antibody on the Ti/Al fiber tip, the tests for specific K12 bacteria and nonspecific BL21 bacteria verified the specificity. The antibody-immobilized Ti/Al coated fiber tip with DEP trapping can detect bacteria at a concentration about 100 CFU/mL.

  5. High-sensitivity and low-temperature magnetic field sensor based on tapered two-mode fiber interference.

    PubMed

    Sun, Bing; Fang, Fang; Zhang, Zuxing; Xu, Jing; Zhang, Lin

    2018-03-15

    A high-sensitivity and low-temperature fiber-optic magnetic field sensor based on a tapered two-mode fiber (TTMF) sandwiched between two single-mode fibers has been proposed and demonstrated. The section of TTMF has a specifically designed transition region as an efficient tool to filter higher-order modes, where the uniform modal interferometer just involved with LP 01 and LP 11 modes is achieved. The transmission spectral characteristics and the magnetic response of the proposed sensors have been investigated. The experimental results show that a maximum sensitivity of 98.2  pm/Oe within a linear magnetic field intensity ranging from 0 to 140 Oe can be achieved. Significantly, the temperature cross-sensitivity problem can be resolved owing to the lower thermal expansion coefficient of the TTMF. Finally, with its low insertion loss, compactness, and ease of fabrication, the proposed sensor would find potential applications in the measurement of a magnetic field.

  6. Facile screening of potential xenoestrogens by an estrogen receptor-based reusable optical biosensor.

    PubMed

    Liu, Lanhua; Zhou, Xiaohong; Lu, Yun; Shan, Didi; Xu, Bi; He, Miao; Shi, Hanchang; Qian, Yi

    2017-11-15

    The apparent increase in hormone-induced cancers and disorders of the reproductive tract has led to a growing demand for new technologies capable of screening xenoestrogens. We reported an estrogen receptor (ER)-based reusable fiber biosensor for facile screening estrogenic compounds in environment. The bioassay is based on the competition of xenoestrogens with 17β-estradiol (E 2 ) for binding to the recombinant receptor of human estrogen receptor α (hERα) protein, leaving E 2 free to bind to fluorophore-labeled anti-E 2 monoclonal antibody. Unbound anti-E 2 antibody then binds to the immobilized E 2 -protein conjugate on the fiber surface, and is detected by fluorescence emission induced by evanescent field. As expected, the stronger estrogenic activity of xenoestrogen would result in the weaker fluorescent signal. Three estrogen-agonist compounds, diethylstilbestrol (DES), 4-n-nonylphenol (NP) and 4-n-octylphenol (OP), were chosen as a paradigm for validation of this assay. The rank order of estrogenic potency determined by this biosensor was DES>OP>NP, which were consistent with the published results in numerous studies. Moreover, the E 2 -protein conjugate modified optical fiber was robust enough for over 300 sensing cycles with the signal recoveries ranging from 90% to 100%. In conclusion, the biosensor is reusable, reliable, portable and amenable to on-line operation, providing a facile, efficient and economical alternative to screen potential xenoestrogens in environment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Optical fiber nanoprobe preparation for near-field optical microscopy by chemical etching under surface tension and capillary action.

    PubMed

    Mondal, Samir K; Mitra, Anupam; Singh, Nahar; Sarkar, S N; Kapur, Pawan

    2009-10-26

    We propose a technique of chemical etching for fabrication of near perfect optical fiber nanoprobe (NNP). It uses photosensitive single mode optical fiber to etch in hydro fluoric (HF) acid solution. The difference in etching rate for cladding and photosensitive core in HF acid solution creates capillary ring along core-cladding boundary under a given condition. The capillary ring is filled with acid solution due to surface tension and capillary action. Finally it creates near perfect symmetric tip at the apex of the fiber as the height of the acid level in capillary ring decreases while width of the ring increases with continuous etching. Typical tip features are short taper length (approximately 4 microm), large cone angle (approximately 38 degrees ), and small probe tip dimension (<100 nm). A finite difference time domain (FDTD) analysis is also presented to compare near field optics of the NNP with conventional nanoprobe (CNP). The probe may be ideal for near field optical imaging and sensor applications.

  8. Balloon-like singlemode-tapered multimode-singlemode fiber structure for refractive index sensing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Biyao; Niu, Yanxiong; Yang, Bowen; Dai, Lingling; Hu, Yanhui; Yin, Yiheng; Ding, Ming

    2017-10-01

    A novel high sensitivity refractive index sensor based on balloon-like singlemode-tapered multimode-singlemode (STMS) fiber structure has been proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Combining the tapering and bending endows the proposed sensor with large evanescent field, resulting in high sensitivity. Experimental results show that the proposed sensor has an average sensitivity of 1104.75 nm/RIU (RI Unit) in the range of 1.33-1.41 and a maximum sensitivity of 3374.50 nm/RIU at RI of 1.41.

  9. Stimulated Brillouin scattering in highly birefringent multimode tapered chalcogenide photonic crystal fiber for distributed optical sensors (Retraction Notice)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Baili, Amira; Cherif, Rim; Zghal, Mourad

    2016-09-01

    This paper, originally published on September 15, 2016, was retracted from the SPIE Digital Library on October 5, 2016, due to a high degree of similarity between specific portions of the text of the paper to the following publications: J. Tchahame, J. Beugnot, A. Kudlinski, and T. Sylvestre, "Multimode Brillouin spectrum in a long tapered birefringent photonic crystal fiber," Opt. Lett. 40, 4281-4284 (2015). doi: 10.1364/OL.40.004281 W. W. Ke, X. J. Wang and X. Tang, "Stimulated Brillouin Scattering Model in Multi-Mode Fiber Lasers," in IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, vol. 20, no. 5, pp. 305-314, Sept.-Oct. 2014. doi: 10.1109/JSTQE.2014.2303256.

  10. Finite-Difference Time-Domain Analysis of Tapered Photonic Crystal Fiber

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ali, M. I. Md; Sanusidin, S. N.; Yusof, M. H. M.

    2018-03-01

    This paper brief about the simulation of tapered photonic crystal fiber (PCF) LMA-8 single-mode type based on correlation of scattering pattern at wavelength of 1.55 μm, analyzation of transmission spectrum at wavelength over the range of 1.0 until 2.5 μm and correlation of transmission spectrum with the refractive index change in photonic crystal holes with respect to taper size of 0.1 until 1.0 using Optiwave simulation software. The main objective is to simulate using Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) technique of tapered LMA-8 PCF and for sensing application by improving the capabilities of PCF without collapsing the crystal holes. The types of FDTD techniques used are scattering pattern and transverse transmission and principal component analysis (PCA) used as a mathematical tool to model the data obtained by MathCad software. The simulation results showed that there is no obvious correlation of scattering pattern at a wavelength of 1.55 μm, a correlation obtained between taper sizes with a transverse transmission and there is a parabolic relationship between the refractive index changes inside the crystal structure.

  11. "Photonic lantern" spectral filters in multi-core Fiber.

    PubMed

    Birks, T A; Mangan, B J; Díez, A; Cruz, J L; Murphy, D F

    2012-06-18

    Fiber Bragg gratings are written across all 120 single-mode cores of a multi-core optical Fiber. The Fiber is interfaced to multimode ports by tapering it within a depressed-index glass jacket. The result is a compact multimode "photonic lantern" filter with astrophotonic applications. The tapered structure is also an effective mode scrambler.

  12. Theoretical analysis of fused tapered side-pumping combiner for all-fiber lasers and amplifiers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lei, Chengmin; Chen, Zilun; Leng, Jinyong; Gu, Yanran; Hou, Jing

    2017-05-01

    We report detailed theoretical analysis on the influence of the fused depth, launch mode and taper ratio on the performance of side-pumping combiner. The theoretical analysis indicates that the coupling efficiency and loss mechanism of the combiner is closely related to the fused depth, tapering ratio and the launch mode. Experimentally, we fabricate combiners consisting of two pump fibers (220/242 μm, NA=0.22) and a signal fiber (20/400 μm, NA=0.46). The combined pump coupling efficiency of two pump port is 97.2% with the maximum power handling of 1.8 kW and the insertion signal loss is less than 3%.

  13. Last Advances in Silicon-Based Optical Biosensors.

    PubMed

    Fernández Gavela, Adrián; Grajales García, Daniel; Ramirez, Jhonattan C; Lechuga, Laura M

    2016-02-24

    We review the most important achievements published in the last five years in the field of silicon-based optical biosensors. We focus specially on label-free optical biosensors and their implementation into lab-on-a-chip platforms, with an emphasis on developments demonstrating the capability of the devices for real bioanalytical applications. We report on novel transducers and materials, improvements of existing transducers, new and improved biofunctionalization procedures as well as the prospects for near future commercialization of these technologies.

  14. Last Advances in Silicon-Based Optical Biosensors

    PubMed Central

    Fernández Gavela, Adrián; Grajales García, Daniel; Ramirez, Jhonattan C.; Lechuga, Laura M.

    2016-01-01

    We review the most important achievements published in the last five years in the field of silicon-based optical biosensors. We focus specially on label-free optical biosensors and their implementation into lab-on-a-chip platforms, with an emphasis on developments demonstrating the capability of the devices for real bioanalytical applications. We report on novel transducers and materials, improvements of existing transducers, new and improved biofunctionalization procedures as well as the prospects for near future commercialization of these technologies. PMID:26927105

  15. Mid-infrared fiber-coupled supercontinuum spectroscopic imaging using a tapered chalcogenide photonic crystal fiber

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rosenberg Petersen, Christian; Prtljaga, Nikola; Farries, Mark; Ward, Jon; Napier, Bruce; Lloyd, Gavin Rhys; Nallala, Jayakrupakar; Stone, Nick; Bang, Ole

    2018-02-01

    We present the first demonstration of mid-infrared spectroscopic imaging of human tissue using a fiber-coupled supercontinuum source spanning from 2-7.5 μm. The supercontinuum was generated in a tapered large mode area chalcogenide photonic crystal fiber in order to obtain broad bandwidth, high average power, and single-mode output for good imaging properties. Tissue imaging was demonstrated in transmission by raster scanning over a sub-mm region of paraffinized colon tissue on CaF2 substrate, and the signal was measured using a fiber-coupled grating spectrometer. This demonstration has shown that we can distinguish between epithelial and surrounding connective tissues within a paraffinized section of colon tissue by imaging at discrete wavelengths related to distinct chemical absorption features.

  16. Prediction of the limit of detection of an optical resonant reflection biosensor.

    PubMed

    Hong, Jongcheol; Kim, Kyung-Hyun; Shin, Jae-Heon; Huh, Chul; Sung, Gun Yong

    2007-07-09

    A prediction of the limit of detection of an optical resonant reflection biosensor is presented. An optical resonant reflection biosensor using a guided-mode resonance filter is one of the most promising label-free optical immunosensors due to a sharp reflectance peak and a high sensitivity to the changes of optical path length. We have simulated this type of biosensor using rigorous coupled wave theory to calculate the limit of detection of the thickness of the target protein layer. Theoretically, our biosensor has an estimated ability to detect thickness change approximately the size of typical antigen proteins. We have also investigated the effects of the absorption and divergence of the incident light on the detection ability of the biosensor.

  17. Poly (N-vinyl Carbazole) - Polypyrrole/graphene oxide nanocomposite material on tapered fiber for Q-switched pulse generation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ahmad, H.; Faruki, M. J.; Jasim, A. A.; Ooi, S. I.; Thambiratnam, K.

    2018-02-01

    A passively Q-switched fiber laser using a Saturable Absorber (SA) fabricated from a new Poly (N-vinyl Carbazole) - Polypyrrole/Graphene Oxide (PNVC-PPy/GO) nanocomposite material deposited on a tapered fiber is proposed and demonstrated. The PNVC-PPy/GO composition is deposited along a 3 mm length of the 6.5 cm tapered fiber which has a tapered waist of 8 μm. Q-switched pulses are obtained with repetition rates of 25.15-42.7 kHz and pulse widths of 5.74-2.48 μs over a pump power range of 12.8-40.0 mW. A maximum average power of 0.19 mW and pulse energy of 4.43 nJ are also observed. The proposed Q-switched maintains advantages of a simple design and low fabrication cost while at the same time generating high quality Q-switched pulses.

  18. Enzyme-enhanced fluorescence detection of DNA on etched optical fibers.

    PubMed

    Niu, Shu-yan; Li, Quan-yi; Ren, Rui; Zhang, Shu-sheng

    2009-05-15

    A novel DNA biosensor based on enzyme-enhanced fluorescence detection on etched optical fibers was developed. The hybridization complex of DNA probe and biotinylated target was formed on the etched optical fiber, and was then bound with streptavidin labeled horseradish peroxidase (streptavidin-HRP). The target DNA was quantified through the fluorescent detection of bi-p,p'-4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (DBDA) generated from the substrate 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (p-HPA) under the catalysis of HRP, with a detection limit of 1 pM and a linear range from 1.69 pM to 169 pM. It is facile to regenerate this sensor through surface treatment with concentrated urea solution. It was discovered that the sensor can retain 70% of its original activity after three detection-regeneration cycles.

  19. DETECTION OF DNA DAMAGE USING A FIBEROPTIC BIOSENSOR

    EPA Science Inventory

    A rapid and sensitive fiber optic biosensor assay for radiation-induced DNA damage is reported. For this assay, a biotin-labeled capture oligonucleotide (38 mer) was immobilized to an avidin-coated quartz fiber. Hybridization of a dye-labeled complementary sequence was observed...

  20. Waveguide-loaded silica fibers for coupling to high-index micro-resonators

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Latawiec, P.; Burek, M. J.; Venkataraman, V.; Lončar, M.

    2016-01-01

    Tapered silica fibers are often used to rapidly probe the optical properties of micro-resonators. However, their low refractive index precludes phase-matching when coupling to high-index micro-resonators, reducing efficiency. Here, we demonstrate efficient optical coupling from tapered fibers to high-index micro-resonators by loading the fibers with an ancillary adiabatic waveguide-coupler fabricated via angled-etching. We demonstrate greatly enhanced coupling to a silicon multimode micro-resonator when compared to coupling via the bare fiber only. Signatures of resonator optical bistability are observed at high powers. This scheme can be applied to resonators of any size and material, increasing the functional scope of fiber coupling.

  1. Double-clad photonic crystal fiber coupler for compact nonlinear optical microscopy imaging.

    PubMed

    Fu, Ling; Gu, Min

    2006-05-15

    A 1 x 2 double-clad photonic crystal fiber coupler is fabricated by the fused tapered method, showing a low excess loss of 1.1 dB and a splitting ratio of 97/3 over the entire visible and near-infrared wavelength range. In addition to the property of splitting the laser power, the double-clad feature of the coupler facilitates the separation of a near-infrared single-mode beam from a visible multimode beam, which is ideal for nonlinear optical microscopy imaging. In conjunction with a gradient-index lens, this coupler is used to construct a miniaturized microscope based on two-photon fluorescence and second-harmonic generation. Three-dimensional nonlinear optical images demonstrate potential applications of the coupler to compact all-fiber and nonlinear optical microscopy and endoscopy.

  2. Five-order SRSs and supercontinuum generation from a tapered tellurite microstructured fiber with longitudinally varying dispersion.

    PubMed

    Liao, Meisong; Yan, Xin; Gao, Weiqing; Duan, Zhongchao; Qin, Guanshi; Suzuki, Takenobu; Ohishi, Yasutake

    2011-08-01

    We try to obtain stable supercontinuum (SC) generation with broad bandwidth under relative simple pump conditions. We use a 1.3-m-long highly nonlinear tellurite microstructured fiber and pump it by a 15 ps 1064 nm fiber laser. One segment of the fiber is tapered from a core diameter of 3.4 μm to 1.3 μm. For the first time five-order stimulated Raman scatterings (SRSs) are observed for soft glass fibers. SC covering 730-1700 nm is demonstrated with the pump-pulse-energy of several nJ. The mechanisms of SC broadening are mainly SRS, self-phase modulation (SPM) and cross phase modulation (XPM). The tapered segment has two advantages. Firstly it increases the nonlinearity of fiber by several times. Secondly, it acts as a compensation for the dispersion of the untapered segment, and mitigates the walk-off between pump pulse and SRS peaks.

  3. Two-mode elliptical-core weighted fiber sensors for vibration analysis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Vengsarkar, Ashish M.; Murphy, Kent A.; Fogg, Brian R.; Miller, William V.; Greene, Jonathan A.; Claus, Richard O.

    1992-01-01

    Two-mode, elliptical-core optical fibers are demonstrated in weighted, distributed and selective vibration-mode-filtering applications. We show how appropriate placement of optical fibers on a vibrating structure can lead to vibration mode filtering. Selective vibration-mode suppression on the order of 10 dB has been obtained using tapered two-mode, circular-core fibers with tapering functions that match the second derivatives of the modes of vibration to be enhanced. We also demonstrate the use of chirped, two-mode gratings in fibers as spatial modal sensors that are equivalents of shaped piezoelectric sensors.

  4. Microparticles controllable accumulation, arrangement, and spatial shaping performed by tapered-fiber-based laser-induced convection flow.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Yu; Lei, Jiaojie; Zhang, Yaxun; Liu, Zhihai; Zhang, Jianzhong; Yang, Xinghua; Yang, Jun; Yuan, Libo

    2017-10-30

    The ability to arrange cells and/or microparticles into the desired pattern is critical in biological, chemical, and metamaterial studies and other applications. Researchers have developed a variety of patterning techniques, which either have a limited capacity to simultaneously trap massive particles or lack the spatial resolution necessary to manipulate individual particle. Several approaches have been proposed that combine both high spatial selectivity and high throughput simultaneously. However, those methods are complex and difficult to fabricate. In this article, we propose and demonstrate a simple method that combines the laser-induced convection flow and fiber-based optical trapping methods to perform both regular and special spatial shaping arrangement. Essentially, we combine a light field with a large optical intensity gradient distribution and a thermal field with a large temperature gradient distribution to perform the microparticles shaping arrangement. The tapered-fiber-based laser-induced convection flow provides not only the batch manipulation of massive particles, but also the finer manipulation of special one or several particles, which break out the limit of single-fiber-based massive/individual particles photothermal manipulation. The combination technique allows for microparticles quick accumulation, single-layer and multilayer arrangement; special spatial shaping arrangement/adjustment, and microparticles sorting.

  5. Biocular vehicle display optical designs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chu, H.; Carter, Tom

    2012-06-01

    Biocular vehicle display optics is a fast collimating lens (f / # < 0.9) that presents the image of the display at infinity to both eyes of the viewer. Each eye captures the scene independently and the brain merges the two images into one through the overlapping portions of the images. With the recent conversion from analog CRT based displays to lighter, more compact active-matrix organic light-emitting diodes (AMOLED) digital image sources, display optical designs have evolved to take advantage of the higher resolution AMOLED image sources. To maximize the field of view of the display optics and fully resolve the smaller pixels, the digital image source is pre-magnified by relay optics or a coherent taper fiber optics plate. Coherent taper fiber optics plates are used extensively to: 1. Convert plano focal planes to spherical focal planes in order to eliminate Petzval field curvature. This elimination enables faster lens speed and/or larger field of view of eye pieces, display optics. 2. Provide pre-magnification to lighten the work load of the optics to further increase the numerical aperture and/or field of view. 3. Improve light flux collection efficiency and field of view by collecting all the light emitted by the image source and guiding imaging light bundles toward the lens aperture stop. 4. Reduce complexity of the optical design and overall packaging volume by replacing pre-magnification optics with a compact taper fiber optics plate. This paper will review and compare the performance of biocular vehicle display designs without and with taper fiber optics plate.

  6. Excitation of Bloch surface wave on tapered fiber coated with one-dimensional photonic crystal for refractive index sensing.

    PubMed

    Tu, Tianyu; Pang, Fufei; Zhu, Shan; Cheng, Jiajing; Liu, Huanhuan; Wen, Jianxiang; Wang, Tingyun

    2017-04-17

    We have theoretically and experimentally demonstrated a novel approach to excite Bloch surface wave (BSW) on tapered optical fibers, which are coated with one-dimensional photonic crystal (1DPC) consisting of periodic TiO2 and Al2O3 by atomic layer deposition technology. Two resonant dips are found in transmission spectra that are originated from the excitation of BSW for p-polarized light and s-polarized light, respectively. For the first time, we have demonstrated the developed device for refractive index (RI) sensing.

  7. Three-dimensional modeling of CPA to the multimillijoule level in tapered Yb-doped fibers for coherent combining systems.

    PubMed

    Andrianov, Alexey; Anashkina, Elena; Kim, Arkady; Meyerov, Iosif; Lebedev, Sergey; Sergeev, Alexander; Mourou, Gerard

    2014-11-17

    We developed a three-dimensional numerical model of Large-Mode-Area chirped pulse fiber amplifiers which includes nonlinear beam propagation in nonuniform multimode waveguides as well as gain spectrum dynamics in quasi-three-level active ions. We used our model in tapered Yb-doped fiber amplifiers and showed that single-mode propagation is maintained along the taper even in the presence of strong Kerr nonlinearity and saturated gain, allowing extraction of up to 3 mJ of output energy in 1 ns pulse. Energy scaling and its limitation as well as the influence of fiber taper bending and core irregularities on the amplifier performance were studied. We also investigated numerically the capabilities for compression and coherent combining of up to 36 perturbed amplifying channels and showed more than 70% combining efficiency, even with up to 11% of high-order modes in individual channels.

  8. Seven-core multicore fiber transmissions for passive optical network.

    PubMed

    Zhu, B; Taunay, T F; Yan, M F; Fini, J M; Fishteyn, M; Monberg, E M; Dimarcello, F V

    2010-05-24

    We design and fabricate a novel multicore fiber (MCF), with seven cores arranged in a hexagonal array. The fiber properties of MCF including low crosstalk, attenuation and splice loss are described. A new tapered MCF connector (TMC), showing ultra-low crosstalk and losses, is also designed and fabricated for coupling the individual signals in-and-out of the MCF. We further propose a novel network configuration using parallel transmissions with the MCF and TMC for passive optical network (PON). To the best of our knowledge, we demonstrate the first bi-directional parallel transmissions of 1310 nm and 1490 nm signals over 11.3-km of seven-core MCF with 64-way splitter for PON.

  9. DNA biosensors implemented on PNA-functionalized microstructured optical fibers Bragg gratings

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Candiani, A.; Giannetti, S.; Cucinotta, A.; Bertucci, A.; Manicardi, A.; Konstantaki, M.; Margulis, W.; Pissadakis, S.; Corradini, R.; Selleri, S.

    2013-05-01

    A novel DNA sensing platform based on a Peptide Nucleic Acid - functionalized Microstructured Optical Fibers gratings has been demonstrated. The inner surface of different MOFs has been functionalized using PNA probes, OligoNucleotides mimic that are well suited for specific DNA target sequences detection. The hybrid sensing systems were tested for optical DNA detection of targets of relevance in biomedical application, using the cystic fibrosis gene mutation, and food-analysis, using the genomic DNA from genetic modified organism soy flour. After the solutions of DNA molecules has been infiltrated inside the fibers capillaries and hybridization has occurred, oligonucleotidefunctionalized gold nanoparticles were infiltrated and used to form a sandwich-like system to achieve signal amplification. Spectral measurements of the reflected signal reveal a clear wavelength shift of the reflected modes when the infiltrated complementary DNA matches with the PNA probes placed on the inner fiber surface. Measurements have also been made using the mismatched DNA solution for the c, containing a single nucleotide polymorphism, showing no significant changes in the reflected spectrum. Several experiments have been carried out demonstrating the reproducibility of the results and the high selectivity of the sensors, showing the simplicity and the potential of this approach.

  10. Effect of waist diameter and twist on tapered asymmetrical dual-core fiber MZI filter.

    PubMed

    Liu, Yan; Li, Yang; Yan, Xiaojun; Li, Weidong

    2015-10-01

    A compact in-fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) filter fabricated from custom-designed asymmetrical dual-core fiber is numerically analyzed in detail and experimentally verified. The asymmetrical dual-core fiber has core diameters and a core pitch of 6.9, 6, and 19.9 μm, respectively. The fiber tapering technique is introduced to fuse the originally uncoupled cores into strong coupling tapered regions. The length and diameter of the waist region have a close impact on the splitting ratio, which further affects the spectral properties of the MZI filter. The field evolution with varied waist parameters is characterized by the finite element method and beam propagation method. Repeatable comb filters with ∼15  dB extinction ratio are successfully achieved under the guidance of simulated optimum conditions. The twist-induced circular birefringence gives rise to a retardance that causes the spectral shifts of the MZI filter. The theoretical and experimental results confirm that the relative wavelength shift is proportional to the retardance, which follows a sinc function in the limit of a large twist rate.

  11. Dual-core optical fiber based strain sensor for remote sensing in hard-to-reach areas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    MÄ kowska, Anna; Szostkiewicz, Łukasz; Kołakowska, Agnieszka; Budnicki, Dawid; Bieńkowska, Beata; Ostrowski, Łukasz; Murawski, Michał; Napierała, Marek; Mergo, Paweł; Nasiłowski, Tomasz

    2017-10-01

    We present research on optical fiber sensors based on microstructured multi-core fiber. Elaborated sensor can be advantageously used in hard-to-reach areas by taking advantage of the fact, that optical fibers can play both the role of sensing elements and they can realize signal delivery. By using the sensor, it is possible to increase the level of the safety in the explosive endangered areas, e.g. in mine-like objects. As a base for the strain remote sensor we use dual-core fibers. The multi-core fibers possess a characteristic parameter called crosstalk, which is a measure of the amount of signal which can pass to the adjacent core. The strain-sensitive area is made by creating the tapered section, in which the level of crosstalk is changed. Due to this fact, we present broadened conception of fiber optic sensor designing. Strain measurement is realized thanks to the fact, that depending on the strain applied, the power distribution between the cores of dual-core fibers changes. Principle of operation allows realization of measurements both in wavelength and power domain.

  12. Supercontinuum generation covering the entire 0.4-5 µm transmission window in a tapered ultra-high numerical aperture all-solid fluorotellurite fiber

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jia, Z. X.; Yao, C. F.; Jia, S. J.; Wang, F.; Wang, S. B.; Zhao, Z. P.; Liao, M. S.; Qin, G. S.; Hu, L. L.; Ohishi, Y.; Qin, W. P.

    2018-02-01

    Enormous efforts have been made to realize supercontinuum (SC) generation covering the entire transmission window of fiber materials for their wide applications in many fields. Here we demonstrate ultra-broadband SC generation from 400 to 5140 nm in a tapered ultra-high numerical aperture (NA) all-solid fluorotellurite fiber pumped by a 1560 nm mode-locked fiber laser. The fluorotellurite fibers are fabricated using a rod-in-tube method. The core and cladding materials are TeO2-BaF2-Y2O3- and TeO2-modified fluoroaluminate glasses, respectively, which have large refractive index contrast and similar thermal expansion coefficients and softening temperatures. The NA at 3200 nm of the fluorotellurite fiber is about 1.11. Furthermore, tapered fluorotellurite fibers are prepared using an elongation machine. SC generation covering the entire 0.4-5 µm transmission window is achieved in a tapered fluorotellurite fiber for a pumping peak power of ~10.5 kW through synergetic control of dispersion, nonlinearity, confinement loss and other unexpected effects (e.g. the attachment of dust or water to the surface of the fiber core) of the fiber. Our results show that tapered ultra-high NA all-solid soft glass fibers have a potential for generating SC light covering their entire transmission window.

  13. High-power fused assemblies enabled by advances in fiber-processing technologies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wiley, Robert; Clark, Brett

    2011-02-01

    The power handling capabilities of fiber lasers are limited by the technologies available to fabricate and assemble the key optical system components. Previous tools for the assembly, tapering, and fusion of fiber laser elements have had drawbacks with regard to temperature range, alignment capability, assembly flexibility and surface contamination. To provide expanded capabilities for fiber laser assembly, a wide-area electrical plasma heat source was used in conjunction with an optimized image analysis method and a flexible alignment system, integrated according to mechatronic principles. High-resolution imaging and vision-based measurement provided feedback to adjust assembly, fusion, and tapering process parameters. The system was used to perform assembly steps including dissimilar-fiber splicing, tapering, bundling, capillary bundling, and fusion of fibers to bulk optic devices up to several mm in diameter. A wide range of fiber types and diameters were tested, including extremely large diameters and photonic crystal fibers. The assemblies were evaluated for conformation to optical and mechanical design criteria, such as taper geometry and splice loss. The completed assemblies met the performance targets and exhibited reduced surface contamination compared to assemblies prepared on previously existing equipment. The imaging system and image analysis algorithms provided in situ fiber geometry measurement data that agreed well with external measurement. The ability to adjust operating parameters dynamically based on imaging was shown to provide substantial performance benefits, particularly in the tapering of fibers and bundles. The integrated design approach was shown to provide sufficient flexibility to perform all required operations with a minimum of reconfiguration.

  14. Observation of Biological Tissues Using Common Path Optical Coherence Tomography with Gold Coated Conical Tip Lens Fiber

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Taguchi, K.; Sugiyama, J.; Totsuka, M.; Imanaka, S.

    2012-03-01

    In this paper, we proposed a high lateral resolution common-path Fourier domain optical coherence tomography(OCT) system with the use of a chemically etched single mode fiber. In our experiments, single mode optical fiber for 1310nm was used for preparing the tapered tips. Our system used a conical microlens that was chemically etched by selective chemical etching technique using an etching solution of buffered hydrofluoric acid (BHF). From experimental results, we verified that our proposed optical coherence tomography system could operate as a common-path Fourier domain OCT system and conical tip lens fiber was very useful for a high lateral resolution common-path Fourier domain OCT system. Furthermore, we could observe a surface of paramecium bursaria and symbiotic chlorella in the paramecium bursaria using gold coated conical-tip fiber in the water.

  15. High sensitivity refractive index sensor based on a tapered small core single-mode fiber structure.

    PubMed

    Liu, Dejun; Mallik, Arun Kumar; Yuan, Jinhui; Yu, Chongxiu; Farrell, Gerald; Semenova, Yuliya; Wu, Qiang

    2015-09-01

    A high sensitivity refractive index (RI) sensor based on a tapered small core single-mode fiber (SCSMF) structure sandwiched between two traditional single-mode fibers (SMF28) is reported. The microheater brushing technique was employed to fabricate the tapered fiber structures with different waist diameters of 12.5, 15.0, and 18.8 μm. Experiments demonstrate that the fiber sensor with a waist diameter of 12.5 μm offers the best sensitivity of 19212.5  nm/RIU (RI unit) in the RI range of 1.4304 to 1.4320. All sensors fabricated in this Letter show good linearity in terms of the spectral wavelength shift versus changes in RI. Furthermore, the sensor with the best sensitivity to RI was also used to measure relative humidity (RH) without any coating materials applied to the fiber surface. Experimental results show that the spectral wavelength shift changes exponentially as the RH varies from 60% to 95%. A maximum sensitivity of 18.3 nm per relative humidity unit (RHU) was achieved in the RH range of 90.4% to 94.5% RH.

  16. Numerical analysis of double chirp effect in tapered and linearly chirped fiber Bragg gratings.

    PubMed

    Markowski, Konrad; Jedrzejewski, Kazimierz; Osuch, Tomasz

    2016-06-10

    In this paper, a theoretical analysis of recently developed tapered chirped fiber Bragg gratings (TCFBG) written in co-directional and counter-directional configurations is presented. In particular, the effects of the synthesis of chirps resulting from both a fused taper profile and a linearly chirped fringe pattern of the induced refractive index changes within the fiber core are extensively examined. For this purpose, a numerical model based on the transfer matrix method (TMM) and the coupled mode theory (CMT) was developed for such a grating. The impact of TCFBG parameters, such as grating length and steepness of the taper transition, as well as the effect of the fringe pattern chirp rate on the spectral properties of the resulting gratings, are presented. Results show that, by using the appropriate design process, TCFBGs with reduced or enhanced resulting chirp, and thus with widely tailored spectral responses, can be easily achieved. In turn, it reveals a great potential application of such structures. The presented numerical approach provides an excellent tool for TCFBG design.

  17. Fiber optic connector

    DOEpatents

    Rajic, Slobodan; Muhs, Jeffrey D.

    1996-01-01

    A fiber optic connector and method for connecting composite materials within which optical fibers are imbedded. The fiber optic connector includes a capillary tube for receiving optical fibers at opposing ends. The method involves inserting a first optical fiber into the capillary tube and imbedding the unit in the end of a softened composite material. The capillary tube is injected with a coupling medium which subsequently solidifies. The composite material is machined to a desired configuration. An external optical fiber is then inserted into the capillary tube after fluidizing the coupling medium, whereby the optical fibers are coupled.

  18. Fiber optic connector

    DOEpatents

    Rajic, S.; Muhs, J.D.

    1996-10-22

    A fiber optic connector and method for connecting composite materials within which optical fibers are imbedded are disclosed. The fiber optic connector includes a capillary tube for receiving optical fibers at opposing ends. The method involves inserting a first optical fiber into the capillary tube and imbedding the unit in the end of a softened composite material. The capillary tube is injected with a coupling medium which subsequently solidifies. The composite material is machined to a desired configuration. An external optical fiber is then inserted into the capillary tube after fluidizing the coupling medium, whereby the optical fibers are coupled. 3 figs.

  19. Simple and reliable light launch from a conventional single-mode fiber into a helical-core fiber through an adiabatically tapered splice.

    PubMed

    Kim, Hyuntai; Kim, Jongki; Jung, Yongmin; Vazquez-Zuniga, Luis Alonso; Lee, Seung Jong; Choi, Geunchang; Oh, Kyunghwan; Wang, Pu; Clarkson, W A; Jeong, Yoonchan

    2012-11-05

    We propose a simple and efficient light launch scheme for a helical-core fiber (HCF) by using an adiabatically tapered splice technique, through which we overcome its inherent difficulty with light launch owing to the large lateral offset and angular tilt of its core. We experimentally demonstrate single-mode excitation in the HCF in this configuration, which yields the coupling efficiency of around -5.9 dB (26%) for a ~1.1-μm light input when the splice joint is tapered down to 30 μm in diameter. To our knowledge, this is the first proof-of-principle report on the fusion-splice coupling between an HCF and a conventional single-mode fiber.

  20. Long-Period Gratings in Highly Germanium-Doped, Single-Mode Optical Fibers for Sensing Applications

    PubMed Central

    Schlangen, Sebastian; Bremer, Kort; Zheng, Yulong; Böhm, Sebastian; Steinke, Michael; Wellmann, Felix; Neumann, Jörg; Overmeyer, Ludger

    2018-01-01

    Long-period fiber gratings (LPGs) are well known for their sensitivity to external influences, which make them interesting for a large number of sensing applications. For these applications, fibers with a high numerical aperture (i.e., fibers with highly germanium (Ge)-doped fused silica fiber cores) are more attractive since they are intrinsically photosensitive, as well as less sensitive to bend- and microbend-induced light attenuations. In this work, we introduce a novel method to inscribe LPGs into highly Ge-doped, single-mode fibers. By tapering the optical fiber, and thus, tailoring the effective indices of the core and cladding modes, for the first time, an LPG was inscribed into such fibers using the amplitude mask technique and a KrF excimer laser. Based on this novel method, sensitive LPG-based fiber optic sensors only a few millimeters in length can be incorporated in bend-insensitive fibers for use in various monitoring applications. Moreover, by applying the described inscription method, the LPG spectrum can be influenced and tailored according to the specific demands of a particular application. PMID:29702600

  1. Single-longitudinal-mode, narrow bandwidth double-ring fiber laser stabilized by an efficiently taper-coupled high roundness microsphere resonator

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wan, Hongdan; Liu, Linqian; Ding, Zuoqin; Wang, Jie; Xiao, Yu; Zhang, Zuxing

    2018-06-01

    This paper proposes and demonstrates a single-longitudinal-mode, narrow bandwidth fiber laser, using an ultra-high roundness microsphere resonator (MSR) with a stabilized package as the single-longitudinal-mode selector inside a double-ring fiber cavity. By improving the heating technology and surface cleaning process, MSR with high Q factor are obtained. With the optimized coupling condition, light polarization state and fiber taper diameter, we achieve whispering gallery mode (WGM) spectra with a high extinction ratio of 23 dB, coupling efficiency of 99.5%, a 3 dB bandwidth of 1 pm and a side-mode-suppression-ratio of 14.5 dB. The proposed fiber laser produces single-longitudinal-mode laser output with a 20-dB frequency linewidth of about 340 kHz, a signal-to-background ratio of 54 dB and a high long-term stability without mode-hopping, which is potential for optical communication and sensing applications.

  2. Fiber optic probe having fibers with endfaces formed for improved coupling efficiency and method using same

    DOEpatents

    O`Rourke, P.E.; Livingston, R.R.

    1995-03-28

    A fiber optic probe is disclosed for detecting scattered light, with transmitting and receiving fibers having slanted ends and bundled together to form a bevel within the tip of the probe. The probe comprises a housing with a transparent window across its tip for protecting the transmitting and receiving fibers held therein. The endfaces of the fibers are slanted, by cutting, polishing and the like, so that they lie in a plane that is not perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the respective fiber. The fibers are held in the tip of the probe using an epoxy and oriented so that lines normal to the slanted endfaces are divergent with respect to one another. The epoxy, which is positioned substantially between the transmitting and receiving fibers, is tapered so that the transmitting fiber, the epoxy and the receiving fiber form a bevel of not more than 20 degrees. The angled fiber endfaces cause directing of the light cones toward each other, resulting in improved light coupling efficiency. A light absorber, such as carbon black, is contained in the epoxy to reduce crosstalk between the transmitting and receiving fibers. 3 figures.

  3. Fiber optic probe having fibers with endfaces formed for improved coupling efficiency and method using same

    DOEpatents

    O'Rourke, Patrick E.; Livingston, Ronald R.

    1995-01-01

    A fiber optic probe for detecting scattered light, with transmitting and receiving fibers having slanted ends and bundled together to form a bevel within the tip of the probe. The probe comprises a housing with a transparent window across its tip for protecting the transmitting and receiving fibers held therein. The endfaces of the fibers are slanted, by cutting, polishing and the like, so that they lie in a plane that is not perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the respective fiber. The fibers are held in the tip of the probe using an epoxy and oriented so that lines normal to the slanted endfaces are divergent with respect to one another. The epoxy, which is positioned substantially between the transmitting and receiving fibers, is tapered so that the transmitting fiber, the epoxy and the receiving fiber form a bevel of not more than 20 degrees. The angled fiber endfaces cause directing of the light cones toward each other, resulting in improved light coupling efficiency. A light absorber, such as carbon black, is contained in the epoxy to reduce crosstalk between the transmitting and receiving fibers.

  4. [INVITED] Recent advances in surface plasmon resonance based fiber optic chemical and biosensors utilizing bulk and nanostructures

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gupta, Banshi D.; Kant, Ravi

    2018-05-01

    Surface plasmon resonance has established itself as an immensely acclaimed and influential optical sensing tool with quintessential applications in life sciences, environmental monitoring, clinical diagnostics, pharmaceutical developments and ensuring food safety. The implementation of sensing principle of surface plasmon resonance employing an optical fiber as a substrate has concomitantly resulted in the evolution of fiber optic surface plasmon resonance as an exceptionally lucrative scaffold for chemical and biosensing applications. This perspective article outlines the contemporary studies on fiber optic sensors founded on the sensing architecture of propagating as well as localized surface plasmon resonance. An in-depth review of the prevalent analytical and surface chemical tactics involved in configuring the sensing layer over an optical fiber for the detection of various chemical and biological entities is presented. The involvement of nanomaterials as a strategic approach to enhance the sensor sensitivity is furnished concurrently providing an insight into the diverse geometrical blueprints for designing fiber optic sensing probes. Representative examples from the literature are discussed to appreciate the latest advancements in this potentially valuable research avenue. The article concludes by identifying some of the key challenges and exploring the opportunities for expanding the scope and impact of surface plasmon resonance based fiber optic sensors.

  5. Gaussian Filtering with Tapered Oil-Filled Photonic Bandgap Fibers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brunetti, A. C.; Scolari, L.; Weirich, J.; Eskildsen, L.; Bellanca, G.; Bassi, P.; Bjarklev, A.

    2008-10-01

    A tunable Gaussian filter based on a tapered oil-filled photonic crystal fiber is demonstrated. The filter is centered at λ = 1364 nm with a bandwidth (FWHM) of 237nm. Tunability is achieved by changing the temperature of the filter. A shift of 210nm of the central wavelength has been observed by increasing the temperature from 25 °C to 100 °C. The measurements are compared to a simulated spectrum obtained by means of a vectorial Beam Propagation Method model.

  6. Examination of tapered plastic multimode fiber-based sensor performance with silver coating for different concentrations of calcium hypochlorite by soft computing methodologies--a comparative study.

    PubMed

    Zakaria, Rozalina; Sheng, Ong Yong; Wern, Kam; Shamshirband, Shahaboddin; Wahab, Ainuddin Wahid Abdul; Petković, Dalibor; Saboohi, Hadi

    2014-05-01

    A soft methodology study has been applied on tapered plastic multimode sensors. This study basically used tapered plastic multimode fiber [polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)] optics as a sensor. The tapered PMMA fiber was fabricated using an etching method involving deionized water and acetone to achieve a waist diameter and length of 0.45 and 10 mm, respectively. In addition, a tapered PMMA probe, which was coated by silver film, was fabricated and demonstrated using a calcium hypochlorite (G70) solution. The working mechanism of such a device is based on the observation increment in the transmission of the sensor that is immersed in solutions at high concentrations. As the concentration was varied from 0 to 6 ppm, the output voltage of the sensor increased linearly. The silver film coating increased the sensitivity of the proposed sensor because of the effective cladding refractive index, which increases with the coating and thus allows more light to be transmitted from the tapered fiber. In this study, the polynomial and radial basis function (RBF) were applied as the kernel function of the support vector regression (SVR) to estimate and predict the output voltage response of the sensors with and without silver film according to experimental tests. Instead of minimizing the observed training error, SVR_poly and SVR_rbf were used in an attempt to minimize the generalization error bound so as to achieve generalized performance. An adaptive neuro-fuzzy interference system (ANFIS) approach was also investigated for comparison. The experimental results showed that improvements in the predictive accuracy and capacity for generalization can be achieved by the SVR_poly approach in comparison to the SVR_rbf methodology. The same testing errors were found for the SVR_poly approach and the ANFIS approach.

  7. A fiber optic temperature sensor based on multi-core microstructured fiber with coupled cores for a high temperature environment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Makowska, A.; Markiewicz, K.; Szostkiewicz, L.; Kolakowska, A.; Fidelus, J.; Stanczyk, T.; Wysokinski, K.; Budnicki, D.; Ostrowski, L.; Szymanski, M.; Makara, M.; Poturaj, K.; Tenderenda, T.; Mergo, P.; Nasilowski, T.

    2018-02-01

    Sensors based on fiber optics are irreplaceable wherever immunity to strong electro-magnetic fields or safe operation in explosive atmospheres is needed. Furthermore, it is often essential to be able to monitor high temperatures of over 500°C in such environments (e.g. in cooling systems or equipment monitoring in power plants). In order to meet this demand, we have designed and manufactured a fiber optic sensor with which temperatures up to 900°C can be measured. The sensor utilizes multi-core fibers which are recognized as the dedicated medium for telecommunication or shape sensing, but as we show may be also deployed advantageously in new types of fiber optic temperature sensors. The sensor presented in this paper is based on a dual-core microstructured fiber Michelson interferometer. The fiber is characterized by strongly coupled cores, hence it acts as an all-fiber coupler, but with an outer diameter significantly wider than a standard fused biconical taper coupler, which significantly increases the coupling region's mechanical reliability. Owing to the proposed interferometer imbalance, effective operation and high-sensitivity can be achieved. The presented sensor is designed to be used at high temperatures as a result of the developed low temperature chemical process of metal (copper or gold) coating. The hermetic metal coating can be applied directly to the silica cladding of the fiber or the fiber component. This operation significantly reduces the degradation of sensors due to hydrolysis in uncontrolled atmospheres and high temperatures.

  8. Chirped self-similar optical pulses in tapered centrosymmetric nonlinear waveguides doped with resonant impurities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    He, J. R.; Xu, S. L.; Xue, L.

    2017-11-01

    Exact chirped self-similar optical pulses propagating in tapered centrosymmetric nonlinear waveguides doped with resonant impurities are reported. The propagation behaviors of the pulses are studied by tailoring of the tapering function. Numerical simulations and stability analysis reveal that the tapering can be used to postpone the wave dispersion and the addition of a small cubic self-focusing term to the governing equation could stabilize the chirped bright pulses. An example of possible experimental protocol that may generate the pulses in realistic waveguides is given. The obtained chirped self-similar optical pulses are particularly useful in the design of amplifying or attenuating pulse compressors for chirped solitary waves in tapered centrosymmetric nonlinear waveguides doped with resonant impurities.

  9. A novel method of adrenaline concentration detection using fiber optical biosensor based on the catalysis of iron(II) phthalocyanine

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhou, Xuan; Huang, Jun; Li, Mingtian; Wang, Bin

    2008-12-01

    As an effective alternative to the nature enzyme, metallophthalocyanine (MPc), having the advantages of easy accessibility, good stability and low cost, are used as catalyzer for the adrenaline (AD) oxidation. In this paper, the oxidation of AD by dioxygen using iron(II) phthalocyanine (FePc) as the catalyst was studied by electronic absorption spectra. The experimental results indicate that the oxidation product of AD catalyzed by FePc is adrenochrome with characteristic peaks at 298 nm and 267 nm. The catalytic activities of FePc are evaluated by the ratios of the absorbance at 298 nm of adrenochrome. The optimal concentration, pH and temperature for the oxidation of AD are 5.0×10-5 M, 8.0 and 55 oC, respectively. By using lock-in technology, the fiber optic adrenaline biosensor based on FePc catalysis and fluorescence quenching was fabricated and studied. A linear relationship between φ, the phase delay of the sensor head, and AD concentration was observed in the range of 2.0×10-6 to 9.0×10-6 M and 2.0×10-5 to 9.0×10-5 M. The standard deviation (SD) values are 4.7×10-8 (n = 5) and 5.9×10-7 (n = 5) M, respectively, while the detection limit is 4.0×10-7 M. The biosensor has the response time of about 15 min and the preferred reproducibility and stability.

  10. Coupling losses between standard single-mode fibers and rectangular waveguides for integrated optics.

    PubMed

    Lierstuen, L O; Sudbø, A S

    1995-02-20

    The butt-coupling loss between different tapered rectangular waveguides and a standard single-mode optical fiber has been calculated. Losses as low as 0.16 dB can be reached for waveguides with a refractive-index contrast in the range of 0.5% to 1.96%. The fabrication tolerances are such that practical devices with coupling losses below 0.25 dB are feasible.

  11. Recycling microcavity optical biosensors.

    PubMed

    Hunt, Heather K; Armani, Andrea M

    2011-04-01

    Optical biosensors have tremendous potential for commercial applications in medical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and food safety evaluation. In these applications, sensor reuse is desirable to reduce costs. To achieve this, harsh, wet chemistry treatments are required to remove surface chemistry from the sensor, typically resulting in reduced sensor performance and increased noise due to recognition moiety and optical transducer degradation. In the present work, we suggest an alternative, dry-chemistry method, based on O2 plasma treatment. This approach is compatible with typical fabrication of substrate-based optical transducers. This treatment completely removes the recognition moiety, allowing the transducer surface to be refreshed with new recognition elements and thus enabling the sensor to be recycled.

  12. Detection of bacteria using bacteriophage with hollow gold nanostructures immobilized fiber optic sensor

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Halkare, Pallavi; Punjabi, Nirmal; Wangchuk, Jigme; Kondabagil, Kiran; Mukherji, Soumyo

    2016-04-01

    Hollow gold nanostructures (HGNS) have been used in variety of optical biosensors due to their inherent advantage of operating at near infra red (NIR) wavelength, large extinction coefficient and high dielectric sensitivity. The absorption wavelength of these nanostructures can be modulated by changing the ratio of hollow region to the core shell thickness. The aim of the present study is to incorporate the properties of HGNS, to develop LSPR based U-bent fiber optic sensor for detection of pathogens. The detection was carried out using an experimental set up consisting of a white light source, 200 μm diameter optical fiber having bend diameter of 1.6 mm +/- 0. 2 mm and a spectrometer. The HGNS were immobilized on the decladded portion of the fiber optic probe by chemisorptions. The effective plasmon penetration depth of the HGNS immobilized fiber optic sensor was approximated by using alternating layers of positively and negatively charged polyelectrolytes. The HGNS immobilized U-bent fiber optic sensor was used for detection of E.coli B40 strain using bacteriophage T4. The preliminary experiments were carried out with 104 cfu/ml of E.coli B40 and the change in absorbance obtained was approx. 0.042 +/- 0.0045 abs. units (n = 3). The response of this sensor was found to be better than spherical gold nanoparticle immobilized sensing platforms.

  13. Photonic crystal fiber-based plasmonic biosensor with external sensing approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rifat, Ahmmed A.; Hasan, Md. Rabiul; Ahmed, Rajib; Butt, Haider

    2018-01-01

    We propose a simple photonic crystal fiber (PCF) biosensor based on the surface plasmon resonance effect. The sensing properties are characterized using the finite element method. Chemically stable gold material is deposited on the outer surface of the PCF to realize the practical sensing approach. The performance of the modeled biosensor is investigated in terms of wavelength sensitivity, amplitude sensitivity, sensor resolution, and linearity of the resonant wavelength with the variation of structural parameters. In the sensing range of 1.33 to 1.37, maximum sensitivities of 4000 nm/RIU and 478 are achieved with the high sensor resolutions of 2.5×10-5 and 2.1×10-5 RIU using wavelength and amplitude interrogation methods, respectively. The designed biosensor will reduce fabrication complexity due to its simple and realistic hexagonal lattice structure. It is anticipated that the proposed biosensor may find possible applications for unknown biological and biochemical analyte detections with a high degree of accuracy.

  14. Nanoengineered optical urea biosensor for estimating hemodialysis parameters in spent dialysate.

    PubMed

    Swati, M; Hase, N K; Srivastava, Rohit

    2010-08-31

    An optical biosensing scheme based on urease encapsulated calcium alginate microspheres which are coated with polyelectrolyte nanofilms predominantly composed of cresol red (CR) dye is demonstrated in this paper. The dye molecules within the nanofilms are deposited via the layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly technique on the microspheres and used as the optical transducer. A flow through cell constructed using a cuvette attached to a fiber optic spectrometer was used to determine the response of the biosensor to standard urea solutions of different concentrations. The change in pH and the absorbance ratio was monitored with time and these results were used for measurements of urea concentrations in the spent dialysate fluid. The biological parameters controlling hemodialysis such as dialyzer clearance or Kt/V and percent removed urea (PRU) have also been reported. The results demonstrate that the urea biosensor is pH reversible with a sensitivity of 0.09 pH units/min and is able to detect a change of 0.005 ratio units in urea concentration ranging 0.1-60 mg dL(-1). The response time of the sensor was calculated as 8 min while the detection range of urea covered the levels that are present in the spent dialysate fluid. The results obtained in the analysis of biological samples were in good agreement with those obtained by a reference method, showing no significant differences at a confidence level of 95%. 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Portable guided-mode resonance biosensor platform for point-of-care testing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sung, Gun Yong; Kim, Wan-Joong; Ko, Hyunsung; Kim, Bong K.; Kim, Kyung-Hyun; Huh, Chul; Hong, Jongcheol

    2012-10-01

    It represents a viable solution for the realization of a portable biosensor platform that could screen/diagnose acute myocardial infarction by measuring cardiac marker concentrations such as cardiac troponin I (cTnI), creatine kinase MB (CK-MB), and myoglobin (MYO) for application to u-health monitoring system. The portable biosensor platform introduced in this presentation has a more compact structure and a much higher measuring resolution than a conventional spectrometer system. Portable guided-mode resonance (GMR) biosensor platform was composed of a biosensor chip stage, an optical pick-up module, and a data display panel. Disposable plastic GMR biosensor chips with nano-grating patterns were fabricated by injection-molding. Whole blood filtration and label-free immunoassay were performed on these single chips, automatically. Optical pick-up module was fabricated by using the miniaturized bulk optics and the interconnecting optical fibers and a tunable VCSEL (vertical cavity surface emitting laser). The reflectance spectrum from the GMR biosensor was measured by the optical pick-up module. Cardiac markers in human serum with concentrations less than 0.1ng/mL were analyzed using a GMR biosensor. Analysis time was 30min, which is short enough to meet clinical requirements. Our results show that the GMR biosensor will be very useful in developing lowcost portable biosensors that can screen for cardiac diseases.

  16. Temperature independent refractive index measurement using a fiber Bragg grating on abrupt tapered tip

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gomes, André D.; Silveira, Beatriz; Warren-Smith, Stephen C.; Becker, Martin; Rothhardt, Manfred; Frazão, Orlando

    2018-05-01

    A fiber Bragg grating was inscribed in an abrupt fiber taper using a femtosecond laser and phase-mask interferometer. The abrupt taper transition allows to excite a broad range of guided modes with different effective refractive indices that are reflected at different wavelengths according to Bragg's law. The multimode-Bragg reflection expands over 30 nm in the telecom-C-band. This corresponds to a mode-field overlap of up to 30% outside of the fiber, making the device suitable for evanescent field sensing. Refractive index and temperature measurements are performed for different reflection peaks. Temperature independent refractive index measurements are achieved by considering the difference between the wavelength shifts of two measured reflection peaks. A minimum refractive index sensitivity of 16 ± 1 nm/RIU was obtained in a low refractive index regime (1.3475-1.3720) with low influence of temperature (-0.32 ± 0.06 pm/°C). The cross sensitivity for this structure is 2.0 × 10-5 RIU/°C. The potential for simultaneous measurement of refractive index and temperature is also studied.

  17. Soliton self-frequency shift and third-harmonic generation in a four-hole As₂S₅ microstructured optical fiber.

    PubMed

    Cheng, Tonglei; Usaki, Ryo; Duan, Zhongchao; Gao, Weiqing; Deng, Dinghuan; Liao, Meisong; Kanou, Yasuhire; Matsumoto, Morio; Misumi, Takashi; Suzuki, Takenobu; Ohishi, Yasutake

    2014-02-24

    Soliton self-frequency shift (SSFS) and third-harmonic generation (THG) are observed in a four-hole As2S5 chalcogenide microstructured optical fiber (MOF). The As2S5 MOF is tapered to offer an ideal environment for SSFS. After tapering, the zero-dispersion wavelength (ZDW) shifts from 2.02 to 1.61 μm, and the rate of SSFS can be enhanced by increasing the energy density of the pulse. By varying the average input power from 220 to 340 mW, SSFS of a soliton central wavelength from 2.206 to 2.600 μm in the mid-infrared is observed in the tapered segment, and THG at 632 nm is observed in the untapered segment.

  18. Fiber optic sensors

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hesse, J.; Sohler, W.

    1984-01-01

    A survey of the developments in the field of fiber optics sensor technology is presented along with a discussion of the advantages of optical measuring instruments as compared with electronic sensors. The two primary types of fiber optics sensors, specifically those with multiwave fibers and those with monowave fibers, are described. Examples of each major sensor type are presented and discussed. Multiwave detectors include external and internal fiber optics sensors. Among the monowave detectors are Mach-Zender interferometers, Michelson interferometers, Sagnac interferometers (optical gyroscopes), waveguide resonators, and polarimeter sensors. Integrated optical sensors and their application in spectroscopy are briefly discussed.

  19. Optical Fiber Networks for Remote Fiber Optic Sensors

    PubMed Central

    Fernandez-Vallejo, Montserrat; Lopez-Amo, Manuel

    2012-01-01

    This paper presents an overview of optical fiber sensor networks for remote sensing. Firstly, the state of the art of remote fiber sensor systems has been considered. We have summarized the great evolution of these systems in recent years; this progress confirms that fiber-optic remote sensing is a promising technology with a wide field of practical applications. Afterwards, the most representative remote fiber-optic sensor systems are briefly explained, discussing their schemes, challenges, pros and cons. Finally, a synopsis of the main factors to take into consideration in the design of a remote sensor system is gathered. PMID:22666011

  20. Two-photon excited fluorescence from a pseudoisocyanine-attached gold-coated tip via a thin tapered fiber under a weak continuous wave excitation.

    PubMed

    Ren, Fang; Takashima, Hideaki; Tanaka, Yoshito; Fujiwara, Hideki; Sasaki, Keiji

    2013-11-18

    A simple tapered fiber based photonic-plasmonic hybrid nanostructure composed of a thin tapered fiber and a pseudoisocyanine (PIC)-attached Au-coated tip was demonstrated. Using this simple hybrid nanostructure, we succeeded in observing two-photon excited fluorescence from the PIC dye molecules under a weak continuous wave excitation condition. From the results of the tip-fiber distance dependence and excitation polarization dependence, we found that using a thin tapered fiber and an Au-coated tip realized efficient coupling of the incident light (~95%) and LSP excitation at the Au-coated tip, suggesting the possibility of efficiently inducing two-photon excited fluorescence from the PIC dye molecules attached on the Au-coated tip. This simple photonic-plasmonic hybrid system is one of the promising tools for single photon sources, highly efficient plasmonic sensors, and integrated nonlinear plasmonic devices.

  1. A dual modality optical fiber sensor

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Herrera-Piad, Luis A.; Haus, Joseph W.; Jauregui-Vazquez, Daniel; Lopez-Dieguez, Yanelis; Estudillo-Ayala, Julian M.; Sierra-Hernandez, Juan M.; Hernandez-Garcia, Juan C.; Rojas-Laguna, Roberto

    2018-02-01

    We propose and demonstrate a fibre optic system based on bi-tapered silica fibre that can simultaneously measure strain and fibre curvature. Both modalities on the signal can be extracted with no measurable crosstalk between them. The experimental signal has a pure phase modulation when strain is applied to the tapered fibre optic section of the sensor and the signal shows only intensity modulation when an un-tapered fibre section is bent. High sensitivity is achieved from the experimental results for strain and bending losses and the estimation of measurement errors is 0.2 and 0.1%, respectively. This system offers low-cost, compactness and it can be adapted for structural health monitoring.

  2. Eliminating crystals in non-oxide optical fiber preforms and optical fibers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    LaPointe, Michael R. (Inventor); Tucker, Dennis S. (Inventor)

    2010-01-01

    A method is provided for eliminating crystals in non-oxide optical fiber preforms as well as optical fibers drawn therefrom. The optical-fiber-drawing axis of the preform is aligned with the force of gravity. A magnetic field is applied to the preform as it is heated to at least a melting temperature thereof. The magnetic field is applied in a direction that is parallel to the preform's optical-fiber-drawing axis. The preform is then cooled to a temperature that is less than a glass transition temperature of the preform while the preform is maintained in the magnetic field. When the processed preform is to have an optical fiber drawn therefrom, the preform's optical-fiber-drawing axis is again aligned with the force of gravity and a magnetic field is again applied along the axis as the optical fiber is drawn from the preform.

  3. Quasi-distributed and wavelength selective addressing of optical micro-resonators based on long period fiber gratings.

    PubMed

    Farnesi, D; Chiavaioli, F; Baldini, F; Righini, G C; Soria, S; Trono, C; Conti, G Nunzi

    2015-08-10

    A novel all-in-fiber method for coupling light to high-Q silica whispering gallery mode (WGM) optical micro-resonators is presented, which is based on a pair of long period fiber gratings (LPGs) written in the same silica fiber, along with a thick fiber taper (15-18 μm in waist) in between the LPGs. The proposed coupling structure is robust and can be replicated many times along the same fiber simply cascading LPGs with different bands. Typical Q-factors of the order of 10(8) and total coupling efficiency up to 60% were measured collecting the resonances of microspheres or microbubbles at the fiber end. This approach uniquely allows quasi-distributed and wavelength selective addressing of different micro-resonators along the same fiber.

  4. Performance of large aperture tapered fiber phase conjugate mirror with high pulse energy and 1-kHz repetition rate.

    PubMed

    Zhao, Zhigang; Dong, Yantao; Pan, Sunqiang; Liu, Chong; Chen, Jun; Tong, Lixin; Gao, Qingsong; Tang, Chun

    2012-01-16

    A large aperture fused silica tapered fiber phase conjugate mirror is presented with a maximum 70% stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) reflectivity, which is obtained with 1 kHz repetition rate, 15 ns pulse width and 38 mJ input pulse energy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest SBS reflectivity ever reported by using optical fiber as a phase conjugate mirror for such high pulse repetition rate (1 kHz) and several tens of millijoule (mJ) input pulse energy. The influences of fiber end surface quality and pump pulse widths on SBS reflectivity are investigated experimentally. The results show that finer fiber end surface quality and longer input pulse widths are preferred for obtaining higher SBS reflectivity with higher input pulse energy. Double passing amplification experiments are also performed. 52 mJ pulse energy is achieved at 1 kHz repetition rate, with a reflected SBS pulse width of 1.5 ns and a M(2) factor of 2.3. The corresponding peak power reaches 34.6 MW. Obvious beam quality improvement is observed.

  5. Miniaturized fiber-optic Michelson-type interferometric sensors

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Murphy, Kent A.; Miller, William V., III; Tran, Tuan A.; Vengsarkar, Ashish M.; Claus, Richard O.

    1991-01-01

    A novel, miniaturized Michelson-type fiber-optic interferometric sensor that is relatively insensitive to temperature drifts is presented. A fused-biconical tapered coupler is cleaved immediately after the coupled length and polished down to the region of the fused cladding, but short of the interaction region. The end of one core is selectively coated with a reflective surface and is used as the reference arm; the other core serves as the sensing arm. The detection of surface acoustic waves, microdisplacements, and magnetic fields is reported. The sensor is shown to be highly stable in comparison to a classic homodyne, uncompensated Michelson interferometer, and signal-to-noise ratios of 65 dB have been obtained.

  6. Lens-free all-fiber probe with an optimized output beam for optical coherence tomography.

    PubMed

    Ding, Zhihua; Qiu, Jianrong; Shen, Yi; Chen, Zhiyan; Bao, Wen

    2017-07-15

    A high-efficiency lensless all-fiber probe for optical coherence tomography (OCT) is presented. The probe is composed of a segment of large-core multimode fiber (MMF), a segment of tapered MMF, and a length of single-mode fiber (SMF). A controllable output beam can be designed by a simple adjustment of its probe structure parameters (PSPs), instead of the selection of fibers with different optical parameters. A side-view probe with a diameter of 340 μm and a rigid length of 6.37 mm was fabricated, which provides an effective imaging range of ∼0.6  mm with a full width at half-maximum beam diameter of less than 30 μm. The insertion loss of the probe was measured to be 0.81 dB, ensuring a high sensitivity of 102.25 dB. Satisfactory images were obtained by the probe-based OCT system, demonstrating the feasibility of the probe for endoscopic OCT applications.

  7. Fiber optic coupled optical sensor

    DOEpatents

    Fleming, Kevin J.

    2001-01-01

    A displacement sensor includes a first optical fiber for radiating light to a target, and a second optical fiber for receiving light from the target. The end of the first fiber is adjacent and not axially aligned with the second fiber end. A lens focuses light from the first fiber onto the target and light from the target onto the second fiber.

  8. Fiber optic sensors and systems at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Werneck, Marcelo M.; dos Santos, Paulo A. M.; Ferreira, Aldo P.; Maggi, Luis E.; de Carvalho, Carlos R., Jr.; Ribeiro, R. M.

    1998-08-01

    As widely known, fiberoptics (FO) are being used in a large variety of sensors and systems particularly for their small dimensions and low cost, large bandwidth and favorable dielectric properties. These properties have allowed us to develop sensors and systems for general applications and, particularly, for biomedical engineering. The intravascular pressure sensor was designed for small dimensions and high bandwidth. The system is based on light-intensity modulation technique and uses a 2 mm-diameter elastomer membrane as the sensor element and a pigtailed laser as a light source. The optical power output curve was linear for pressures within the range of 0 to 300 mmHg. The real time optical biosensor uses the evanescent field technique for monitoring Escherichia coli growth in culture media. The optical biosensor monitors interactions between the analytic (bacteria) and the evanescent field of an optical fiber passing through it. The FO based high voltage and current sensor is a measuring system designed for monitoring voltage and current in high voltage transmission lines. The linearity of the system is better than 2% in both ranges of 0 to 25 kV and 0 to 1000 A. The optical flowmeter uses a cross-correlation technique that analyses two light beams crossing the flow separated by a fixed distance. The x-ray image sensor uses a scintillating FO array, one FO for each image pixel to form an image of the x-ray field. The systems described in these paper use general-purpose components including optical fibers and optoelectronic devices, which are readily available, and of low cost.

  9. Optical biosensors: a revolution towards quantum nanoscale electronics device fabrication.

    PubMed

    Dey, D; Goswami, T

    2011-01-01

    The dimension of biomolecules is of few nanometers, so the biomolecular devices ought to be of that range so a better understanding about the performance of the electronic biomolecular devices can be obtained at nanoscale. Development of optical biomolecular device is a new move towards revolution of nano-bioelectronics. Optical biosensor is one of such nano-biomolecular devices that has a potential to pave a new dimension of research and device fabrication in the field of optical and biomedical fields. This paper is a very small report about optical biosensor and its development and importance in various fields.

  10. Simultaneous measurement of refractive index, strain and temperature using a tapered structure based on SMF

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Na; Xu, Wei; You, Shanhong; Yu, Cheungchuen; Yu, Changyuan; Dong, Bo; Li, Kunpu

    2018-03-01

    A novel fiber-optic sensing structure based on miniaturized modal interferometer (MMI) for simultaneous refractive index (RI), strain and temperature measurement is proposed. It is mainly based on Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) and formed by introducing a down taper between two adjacent up tapers in one single mode fiber (SMF). Experimental results demonstrate a RI sensitivity of 131.93 nm/RIU, a strain sensitivity of 0.0007 nm/ με and a temperature sensitivity of 0.0878 nm/°C respectively. The sensor is merely made of SMF which is cheap and available, and the whole fabrication process contains only cleaving and splicing and can be well controlled by a commercial fiber splicer.

  11. Reconfiguration of the multiwavelength operation of optical fiber ring lasers by the modifiable intra-cavity induced losses of an in-fiber tip probe modal Michelson interferometer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Salceda-Delgado, G.; Martinez-Rios, A.; Sierra-Hernandez, J. M.; Rodríguez-Carreón, V. C.; Toral-Acosta, D.; Selvas-Aguilar, R.; Álvarez-Tamayo, R. I.; Castillo-Guzman, A. A.; Rojas-Laguna, R.

    2018-03-01

    A straightforward and versatile method for switching from single to different multiwavelength laser emission in ring cavity fiber lasers is proposed and demonstrated experimentally. The method is based on using the changeable interference pattern from an optical fiber modal Michelson interferometer as a wavelength selective filter into the ring cavity laser. The interferometer is constructed using a bi-conical tapered fiber and a single-mode fiber segment, with these being spliced together to form an optical fiber tip probe. When the length of the single-mode fiber piece is modified, the phase difference between the interfering modes of the interferometer causes a change in the interferometer free spectral range. As a consequence, the laser intra-cavity losses lead to gain competition, which allows us to adjust the number of simultaneously generated laser lines. A multiwavelength reconfiguration of the laser from one up to a maximum of eight emission lines was obtained, with a maximum SNR of around 47 dBm.

  12. Corrugated metal-coated tapered tip for scanning near-field optical microscope.

    PubMed

    Antosiewicz, Tomasz J; Szoplik, Tomasz

    2007-08-20

    This paper addresses an important issue of light throughput of a metal-coated tapered tip for scanning near-field microscope (SNOM). Corrugations of the interface between the fiber core and metal coating in the form of parallel grooves of different profiles etched in the core considerably increase the energy throughput. In 2D FDTD simulations in the Cartesian coordinates we calculate near-field light emitted from such tips. For a certain wavelength range total intensity of forward emission from the corrugated tip is 10 times stronger than that from a classical tapered tip. When realized in practice the idea of corrugated tip may lead up to twice better resolution of SNOM.

  13. Fiber optic monitoring device

    DOEpatents

    Samborsky, James K.

    1993-01-01

    A device for the purpose of monitoring light transmissions in optical fibers comprises a fiber optic tap that optically diverts a fraction of a transmitted optical signal without disrupting the integrity of the signal. The diverted signal is carried, preferably by the fiber optic tap, to a lens or lens system that disperses the light over a solid angle that facilitates viewing. The dispersed light indicates whether or not the monitored optical fiber or system of optical fibers is currently transmitting optical information.

  14. A 160 W single-frequency laser based on an active tapered double-clad fiber amplifier

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Trikshev, A. I.; Kurkov, A. S.; Tsvetkov, V. B.; Filatova, S. A.; Kertulla, J.; Filippov, V.; Chamorovskiy, Yu K.; Okhotnikov, O. G.

    2013-06-01

    We present a CW single-frequency laser at 1062 nm (linewidth <3 MHz) with 160 W of total output power based on a two stage fiber amplifier. A GTWave fiber is used for the first stage of the amplifier. A tapered double-clad fiber (T-DCF) is used for the second stage of the amplifier. The high output power is achieved due to the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) filtering and increased stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) threshold inherent to the axially non-uniform geometry.

  15. Fiber optic temperature sensor

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sawatari, Takeo (Inventor); Gaubis, Philip A. (Inventor)

    2000-01-01

    A fiber optic temperature sensor uses a light source which transmits light through an optical fiber to a sensor head at the opposite end of the optical fiber from the light source. The sensor head has a housing coupled to the end of the optical fiber. A metallic reflective surface is coupled to the housing adjacent the end of the optical fiber to form a gap having a predetermined length between the reflective surface and the optical fiber. A detection system is also coupled to the optical fiber which determines the temperature at the sensor head from an interference pattern of light which is reflected from the reflective surface.

  16. Fiber optic temperature sensor

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sawatari, Takeo (Inventor); Gaubis, Philip A. (Inventor); Mattes, Brenton L. (Inventor); Charnetski, Clark J. (Inventor)

    1999-01-01

    A fiber optic temperature sensor uses a light source which transmits light through an optical fiber to a sensor head at the opposite end of the optical fiber from the light source. The sensor head has a housing coupled to the end of the optical fiber. A metallic reflective surface is coupled to the housing adjacent the end of the optical fiber to form a gap having a predetermined length between the reflective surface and the optical fiber. A detection system is also coupled to the optical fiber which determines the temperature at the sensor head from an interference pattern of light which is reflected from the reflective surface.

  17. Graphene-clad tapered fiber: effective nonlinearity and propagation losses.

    PubMed

    Gorbach, A V; Marini, A; Skryabin, D V

    2013-12-15

    We derive a pulse propagation equation for a graphene-clad optical fiber, treating the optical response of the graphene and nonlinearity of the dielectric fiber core as perturbations in asymptotic expansion of Maxwell equations. We analyze the effective nonlinear and attenuation coefficients due to the graphene layer. Based on the recent experimental measurements of the nonlinear graphene conductivity, we predict considerable enhancement of the effective nonlinearity for subwavelength fiber core diameters.

  18. Improved fiber-optic chemical sensor for penicillin

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Healy, B.G.; Walt, D.R.

    An optical penicillin biosensor is described, based on the enzyme penicillinase. The sensor is fabricated by selective photodeposition of analyte-sensitive polymer matrices on optical imaging fibers. The penicillin-sensitive matrices are fabricated by immobilizing the enzyme as micrometer-sized particles in a polymer hydrogel with a covalently bound pH indicator. An array of penicillin-sensitive and pH-sensitive matrices are fabricated on the same fiber. This array allows for the simultaneous, independent measurement of pH and penicillin. Independent measurement of the two analytes allows penicillin to be quantitated in the presence of a concurrent pH change. An analysis was conducted of enzyme kinetic parametersmore » in order to model the penicillin response of the sensor at all pH values. This analysis accounts for the varying activity of the immobilized penicillinase at different pH values. The sensor detects penicillin in the range 0.25-10.0 mM in the pH range 6.2-7.5. The sensor was used to quantify penicillin concentration produced during a Penicillium chrysogenum fermentation. 27 refs., 7 figs., 1 tab.« less

  19. Optical pulse compression in dispersion decreasing photonic crystal fiber.

    PubMed

    Travers, J C; Stone, J M; Rulkov, A B; Cumberland, B A; George, A K; Popov, S V; Knight, J C; Taylor, J R

    2007-10-01

    Improvements to tapered photonic crystal fiber (PCF) fabrication have allowed us to make up to 50 m long PCF tapers with loss as low as 30 dB/km. We discuss the design constraints for tapered PCFs used for adiabatic soliton compression and demonstrate over 15 times compression of pulses from over 830 fs to 55 fs duration at a wavelength of 1.06 lm, an order of magnitude improvement over previous results.

  20. Two Fiber Optical Fiber Thermometry

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jones, Mathew R.; Farmer, Jeffery T.; Breeding, Shawn P.

    2000-01-01

    An optical fiber thermometer consists of an optical fiber whose sensing tip is given a metallic coating. The sensing tip of the fiber is essentially an isothermal cavity, so the emission from this cavity will be approximately equal to the emission from a blackbody. Temperature readings are obtained by measuring the spectral radiative heat flux at the end of the fiber at two wavelengths. The ratio of these measurements and Planck's Law are used to infer the temperature at the sensing tip. Optical fiber thermometers have high accuracy, excellent long-term stability and are immune to electromagnetic interference. In addition, they can be operated for extended periods without requiring re-calibration. For these reasons. it is desirable to use optical fiber thermometers in environments such as the International Space Station. However, it has recently been shown that temperature readings are corrupted by emission from the fiber when extended portions of the probe are exposed to elevated temperatures. This paper will describe several ways in which the reading from a second fiber can be used to correct the corrupted temperature measurements. The accuracy and sensitivity to measurement uncertainty will be presented for each method.

  1. Fiber optic vibration sensor

    DOEpatents

    Dooley, Joseph B.; Muhs, Jeffrey D.; Tobin, Kenneth W.

    1995-01-01

    A fiber optic vibration sensor utilizes two single mode optical fibers supported by a housing with one optical fiber fixedly secured to the housing and providing a reference signal and the other optical fiber having a free span length subject to vibrational displacement thereof with respect to the housing and the first optical fiber for providing a signal indicative of a measurement of any perturbation of the sensor. Damping or tailoring of the sensor to be responsive to selected levels of perturbation is provided by altering the diameter of optical fibers or by immersing at least a portion of the free span length of the vibration sensing optical fiber into a liquid of a selected viscosity.

  2. Fiber optic vibration sensor

    DOEpatents

    Dooley, J.B.; Muhs, J.D.; Tobin, K.W.

    1995-01-10

    A fiber optic vibration sensor utilizes two single mode optical fibers supported by a housing with one optical fiber fixedly secured to the housing and providing a reference signal and the other optical fiber having a free span length subject to vibrational displacement thereof with respect to the housing and the first optical fiber for providing a signal indicative of a measurement of any perturbation of the sensor. Damping or tailoring of the sensor to be responsive to selected levels of perturbation is provided by altering the diameter of optical fibers or by immersing at least a portion of the free span length of the vibration sensing optical fiber into a liquid of a selected viscosity. 2 figures.

  3. A portable bioluminescence engineered cell-based biosensor for on-site applications.

    PubMed

    Roda, Aldo; Cevenini, Luca; Michelini, Elisa; Branchini, Bruce R

    2011-04-15

    We have developed a portable biosensing device based on genetically engineered bioluminescent (BL) cells. Cells were immobilized on a 4 × 3 multiwell cartridge using a new biocompatible matrix that preserved their vitality. Using a fiber optic taper, the cartridge was placed in direct contact with a cooled CCD sensor to image and quantify the BL signals. Yeast and bacterial cells were engineered to express recognition elements, whose interaction with the analyte led to luciferase expression, via reporter gene technology. Three different biosensors were developed. The first detects androgenic compounds using yeast cells carrying a green-emitting P. pyralis luciferase regulated by the human androgen receptor and a red mutant of the same species as internal vitality control. The second biosensor detects two classes of compounds (androgens and estrogens) using yeast strains engineered to express green-or red-emitting mutant firefly luciferases in response to androgens or estrogens, respectively. The third biosensor detects lactose analogue isopropyl β-d-1-thiogalactopyranoside using two E. coli strains. One strain exploits the lac operon as recognition element for the expression of P. pyralis luciferase. The other strain serves as a vitality control expressing Gaussia princeps luciferase, which requires a different luciferin substrate. The immobilized cells were stable for up to 1 month. The analytes could be detected at nanomolar levels with good precision and accuracy when the specific signal was corrected using the internal vitality control. This portable device can be used for on-site multiplexed bioassays for different compound classes. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. Low-loss saturable absorbers based on tapered fibers embedded in carbon nanotube/polymer composites

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Martinez, Amos; Al Araimi, Mohammed; Dmitriev, Artemiy; Lutsyk, Petro; Li, Shen; Mou, Chengbo; Rozhin, Alexey; Sumetsky, Misha; Turitsyn, Sergei

    2017-12-01

    The emergence of low-dimensional materials has opened new opportunities in the fabrication of compact nonlinear photonic devices. Single-walled carbon nanotubes were among the first of those materials to attract the attention of the photonics community owing to their high third order susceptibility, broadband operation, and ultrafast response. Saturable absorption, in particular, has become a widespread application for nanotubes in the mode-locking of a fiber laser where they are used as nonlinear passive amplitude modulators to initiate pulsed operation. Numerous approaches have been proposed for the integration of nanotubes in fiber systems; these can be divided into those that rely on direct interaction (where the nanotubes are sandwiched between fiber connectors) and those that rely on lateral interaction with the evanescence field of the propagating wave. Tapered fibers, in particular, offer excellent flexibility to adjust the nonlinearity of nanotube-based devices but suffer from high losses (typically exceeding 50%) and poor saturable to non-saturable absorption ratios (typically above 1:5). In this paper, we propose a method to fabricate carbon nanotube saturable absorbers with controllable saturation power, low-losses (as low as 15%), and large saturable to non-saturable loss ratios approaching 1:1. This is achieved by optimizing the procedure of embedding tapered fibers in low-refractive index polymers. In addition, this study sheds light in the operation of these devices, highlighting a trade-off between losses and saturation power and providing guidelines for the design of saturable absorbers according to their application.

  5. LP01 to LP0m mode converters using all-fiber two-stage tapers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mellah, Hakim; Zhang, Xiupu; Shen, Dongya

    2015-11-01

    A mode converter between LP01 and LP0m modes is proposed using two stages of tapers. The first stage is formed by an adiabatically tapering a circular fiber to excite the desirable LP0m mode. The second stage is formed by inserting an inner core (tapered from both sides) with a refractive index smaller than the original core. This second stage is used to obtain low insertion loss and high extinction ratio of the desired LP0m mode. Three converters between LP01 and LP0m, m=2, 3, and 4, are designed for C-band, and simulation results show that less than 0.24, 0.54 and 0.7 dB insertion loss and higher than 15, 16, and 17.5 dB extinction ratio over the entire band were obtained for the three converters, respectively.

  6. Fiber Optic Microphone

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cho, Y. C.; George, Thomas; Norvig, Peter (Technical Monitor)

    1999-01-01

    Research into advanced pressure sensors using fiber-optic technology is aimed at developing compact size microphones. Fiber optic sensors are inherently immune to electromagnetic noise, and are very sensitive, light weight, and highly flexible. In FY 98, NASA researchers successfully designed and assembled a prototype fiber-optic microphone. The sensing technique employed was fiber optic Fabry-Perot interferometry. The sensing head is composed of an optical fiber terminated in a miniature ferrule with a thin, silicon-microfabricated diaphragm mounted on it. The optical fiber is a single mode fiber with a core diameter of 8 micron, with the cleaved end positioned 50 micron from the diaphragm surface. The diaphragm is made up of a 0.2 micron thick silicon nitride membrane whose inner surface is metallized with layers of 30 nm titanium, 30 nm platinum, and 0.2 micron gold for efficient reflection. The active sensing area is approximately 1.5 mm in diameter. The measured differential pressure tolerance of this diaphragm is more than 1 bar, yielding a dynamic range of more than 100 dB.

  7. Emerging applications of label-free optical biosensors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zanchetta, Giuliano; Lanfranco, Roberta; Giavazzi, Fabio; Bellini, Tommaso; Buscaglia, Marco

    2017-01-01

    Innovative technical solutions to realize optical biosensors with improved performance are continuously proposed. Progress in material fabrication enables developing novel substrates with enhanced optical responses. At the same time, the increased spectrum of available biomolecular tools, ranging from highly specific receptors to engineered bioconjugated polymers, facilitates the preparation of sensing surfaces with controlled functionality. What remains often unclear is to which extent this continuous innovation provides effective breakthroughs for specific applications. In this review, we address this challenging question for the class of label-free optical biosensors, which can provide a direct signal upon molecular binding without using secondary probes. Label-free biosensors have become a consolidated approach for the characterization and screening of molecular interactions in research laboratories. However, in the last decade, several examples of other applications with high potential impact have been proposed. We review the recent advances in label-free optical biosensing technology by focusing on the potential competitive advantage provided in selected emerging applications, grouped on the basis of the target type. In particular, direct and real-time detection allows the development of simpler, compact, and rapid analytical methods for different kinds of targets, from proteins to DNA and viruses. The lack of secondary interactions facilitates the binding of small-molecule targets and minimizes the perturbation in single-molecule detection. Moreover, the intrinsic versatility of label-free sensing makes it an ideal platform to be integrated with biomolecular machinery with innovative functionality, as in case of the molecular tools provided by DNA nanotechnology.

  8. SPR based hybrid electro-optic biosensor for β-lactam antibiotics determination in water

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Galatus, Ramona; Feier, Bogdan; Cristea, Cecilia; Cennamo, Nunzio; Zeni, Luigi

    2017-09-01

    The present work aims to provide a hybrid platform capable of complementary and sensitive detection of β-lactam antibiotics, ampicillin in particular. The use of an aptamer specific to ampicillin assures good selectivity and sensitivity for the detection of ampicillin from different matrice. This new approach is dedicated for a portable, remote sensing platform based on low-cost, small size and low-power consumption solution. The simple experimental hybrid platform integrates the results from the D-shape surface plasmon resonance plastic optical fiber (SPR-POF) and from the electrochemical (bio)sensor, for the analysis of ampicillin, delivering sensitive and reliable results. The SPR-POF already used in many previous applications is embedded in a new experimental setup with fluorescent fibers emitters, for broadband wavelength analysis, low-power consumption and low-heating capabilities of the sensing platform.

  9. Optical fiber tips for biological applications: From light confinement, biosensing to bioparticles manipulation.

    PubMed

    Paiva, Joana S; Jorge, Pedro A S; Rosa, Carla C; Cunha, João P S

    2018-05-01

    The tip of an optical fiber has been considered an attractive platform in Biology. The simple cleaved end of an optical fiber can be machined, patterned and/or functionalized, acquiring unique properties enabling the exploitation of novel optical phenomena. Prompted by the constant need to measure and manipulate nanoparticles, the invention of the Scanning Near-field Optical Microscopy (SNOM) triggered the optimization and development of novel fiber tip microfabrication methods. In fact, the fiber tip was soon considered a key element in SNOM by confining light to sufficiently small extensions, challenging the diffraction limit. As result and in consequence of the newly proposed "Lab On Tip" concept, several geometries of fiber tips were applied in three main fields: imaging (in Microscopy/Spectroscopy), biosensors and micromanipulation (Optical Fiber Tweezers, OFTs). These are able to exert forces on microparticles, trap and manipulate them for relevant applications, as biomolecules mechanical study or protein aggregates unfolding. This review presents an overview of the main achievements, most impactful studies and limitations of fiber tip-based configurations within the above three fields, along the past 10 years. OFTs could be in future a valuable tool for studying several cellular phenomena such as neurodegeneration caused by abnormal protein fibrils or manipulating organelles within cells. This could contribute to understand the mechanisms of some diseases or biophenomena, as the axonal growth in neurons. To the best of our knowledge, no other review article has so far provided such a broad view. Despite of the limitations, fiber tips have key roles in Biology/Medicine. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Omnidirectional fiber optic tiltmeter

    DOEpatents

    Benjamin, B.C.; Miller, H.M.

    1983-06-30

    A tiltmeter is provided which is useful in detecting very small movements such as earth tides. The device comprises a single optical fiber, and an associated weight affixed thereto, suspended from a support to form a pendulum. A light source, e.g., a light emitting diode, mounted on the support transmits light through the optical fiber to a group of further optical fibers located adjacent to but spaced from the free end of the single optical fiber so that displacement of the single optical fiber with respect to the group will result in a change in the amount of light received by the individual optical fibers of the group. Photodetectors individually connectd to the fibers produce corresponding electrical outputs which are differentially compared and processed to produce a resultant continuous analog output representative of the amount and direction of displacement of the single optical fiber.

  11. Graphene oxide-based optical biosensor functionalized with peptides for explosive detection.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Qian; Zhang, Diming; Lu, Yanli; Yao, Yao; Li, Shuang; Liu, Qingjun

    2015-06-15

    A label-free optical biosensor was constructed with biofunctionalized graphene oxide (GO) for specific detection of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT). By chemically binding TNT-specific peptides with GO, the biosensor gained unique optoelectronic properties and high biological sensitivity, with transducing bimolecular bonding into optical signals. Through UV absorption detection, increasing absorbance responses could be observed in presence of TNT at different concentrations, as low as 4.40×10(-9) mM, and showed dose-dependence and stable behavior. Specific responses of the biosensor were verified with the corporation of 2,6-dinitrotoluene (DNT), which had similar molecular structure to TNT. Thus, with high sensitivity and selectivity, the biosensor provided a convenient approach for detection of explosives as miniaturizing and integrating devices. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensor Based on Smart Phone Platforms

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Yun; Liu, Qiang; Chen, Shimeng; Cheng, Fang; Wang, Hanqi; Peng, Wei

    2015-08-01

    We demonstrate a fiber optic surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor based on smart phone platforms. The light-weight optical components and sensing element are connected by optical fibers on a phone case. This SPR adaptor can be conveniently installed or removed from smart phones. The measurement, control and reference channels are illuminated by the light entering the lead-in fibers from the phone’s LED flash, while the light from the end faces of the lead-out fibers is detected by the phone’s camera. The SPR-sensing element is fabricated by a light-guiding silica capillary that is stripped off its cladding and coated with 50-nm gold film. Utilizing a smart application to extract the light intensity information from the camera images, the light intensities of each channel are recorded every 0.5 s with refractive index (RI) changes. The performance of the smart phone-based SPR platform for accurate and repeatable measurements was evaluated by detecting different concentrations of antibody binding to a functionalized sensing element, and the experiment results were validated through contrast experiments with a commercial SPR instrument. This cost-effective and portable SPR biosensor based on smart phones has many applications, such as medicine, health and environmental monitoring.

  13. Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensor Based on Smart Phone Platforms.

    PubMed

    Liu, Yun; Liu, Qiang; Chen, Shimeng; Cheng, Fang; Wang, Hanqi; Peng, Wei

    2015-08-10

    We demonstrate a fiber optic surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor based on smart phone platforms. The light-weight optical components and sensing element are connected by optical fibers on a phone case. This SPR adaptor can be conveniently installed or removed from smart phones. The measurement, control and reference channels are illuminated by the light entering the lead-in fibers from the phone's LED flash, while the light from the end faces of the lead-out fibers is detected by the phone's camera. The SPR-sensing element is fabricated by a light-guiding silica capillary that is stripped off its cladding and coated with 50-nm gold film. Utilizing a smart application to extract the light intensity information from the camera images, the light intensities of each channel are recorded every 0.5 s with refractive index (RI) changes. The performance of the smart phone-based SPR platform for accurate and repeatable measurements was evaluated by detecting different concentrations of antibody binding to a functionalized sensing element, and the experiment results were validated through contrast experiments with a commercial SPR instrument. This cost-effective and portable SPR biosensor based on smart phones has many applications, such as medicine, health and environmental monitoring.

  14. Novel image processing method study for a label-free optical biosensor

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Chenhao; Wei, Li'an; Yang, Rusong; Feng, Ying

    2015-10-01

    Optical biosensor is generally divided into labeled type and label-free type, the former mainly contains fluorescence labeled method and radioactive-labeled method, while fluorescence-labeled method is more mature in the application. The mainly image processing methods of fluorescent-labeled biosensor includes smooth filtering, artificial gridding and constant thresholding. Since some fluorescent molecules may influence the biological reaction, label-free methods have been the main developing direction of optical biosensors nowadays. The using of wider field of view and larger angle of incidence light path which could effectively improve the sensitivity of the label-free biosensor also brought more difficulties in image processing, comparing with the fluorescent-labeled biosensor. Otsu's method is widely applied in machine vision, etc, which choose the threshold to minimize the intraclass variance of the thresholded black and white pixels. It's capacity-constrained with the asymmetrical distribution of images as a global threshold segmentation. In order to solve the irregularity of light intensity on the transducer, we improved the algorithm. In this paper, we present a new image processing algorithm based on a reflectance modulation biosensor platform, which mainly comprises the design of sliding normalization algorithm for image rectification and utilizing the improved otsu's method for image segmentation, in order to implement automatic recognition of target areas. Finally we used adaptive gridding method extracting the target parameters for analysis. Those methods could improve the efficiency of image processing, reduce human intervention, enhance the reliability of experiments and laid the foundation for the realization of high throughput of label-free optical biosensors.

  15. Development of Extinction Imagers for the Determination of Atmospheric Optical Extinction

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2014-08-01

    system resulting from the effects of both the optics and the camera system (including the electronics). The MSI sensor includes a fiber optic taper...small dots in Fig. 7-1 are due to the fiber optic taper in the system. The brighter region near the center is due to the lens optics. To apply the...a black target wliich was a hollow black box. Clearly it would be a major advantage if we could use "targets of opportunity" from a ship, and in

  16. Reusable split-aptamer-based biosensor for rapid detection of cocaine in serum by using an all-fiber evanescent wave optical biosensing platform.

    PubMed

    Tang, Yunfei; Long, Feng; Gu, Chunmei; Wang, Cheng; Han, Shitong; He, Miao

    2016-08-24

    A rapid, facile, and sensitive assay of cocaine in biological fluids is important to prevent illegal abuse of drugs. A two-step structure-switching aptasensor has been developed for cocaine detection based on evanescent wave optical biosensing platform. In the proposed biosensing platform, two tailored aptamer probes were used to construct the molecular structure switching. In the existence of cocaine, two fragments of cocaine aptamer formed a three-way junction quickly, and the fluorophore group of one fragment was effectively quenched by the quencher group of the other one. The tail of the three-way junction hybridized with the cDNA sequences immobilized on the optical fiber biosensor. Fluorescence was excited by evanescent wave, and the fluorescence signal was proportional to cocaine concentration. Cocaine was detected in 450 s (300 s for incubation and 150 s for detection and regeneration) with a limit of detection (LOD) of 165.2 nM. The proposed aptasensor was evaluated in human serum samples, and it exhibited good recovery, precision, and accuracy without complicated sample pretreatments. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Immunosensing with Near-Infrared Plasmonic Optical Fiber Gratings.

    PubMed

    Caucheteur, Christophe; Ribaut, Clotilde; Malachovska, Viera; Wattiez, Ruddy

    2017-01-01

    Surface Plasmon resonance (SPR) optical fiber biosensors constitute a miniaturized counterpart to the bulky prism configuration and offer remote operation in very small volumes of analyte. They are a cost-effective and relatively straightforward technique to yield in situ (or even possibly in vivo) molecular detection. They are usually obtained from a gold-coated fiber segment for which the core-guided light is brought into contact with the surrounding medium, either by etching (or side-polishing) or by using grating coupling. Recently, SPR generation was achieved in gold-coated tilted fiber Bragg gratings (TFBGs). These sensors probe the surrounding medium with near-infrared narrowband resonances, which enhances both the penetration depth of the evanescent field in the external medium and the wavelength resolution of the interrogation. They constitute the unique configuration able to probe all the fiber cladding modes individually, with high Q-factors. We use these unique spectral features in our work to sense proteins and extra-cellular membrane receptors that are both overexpressed in cancerous tissues. Impressive limit of detection (LOD) and sensitivity are reported, which paves the way for the further use of such immunosensors for cancer diagnosis.

  18. All-fiber magnetic field sensor based on tapered thin-core fiber and magnetic fluid.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Junying; Qiao, Xueguang; Yang, Hangzhou; Wang, Ruohui; Rong, Qiangzhou; Lim, Kok-Sing; Ahmad, Harith

    2017-01-10

    A method for the measurement of a magnetic field by combining a tapered thin-core fiber (TTCF) and magnetic fluid is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The modal interference effect is caused by the core mode and excited eigenmodes in the TTCF cladding. The transmission spectra of the proposed sensor are measured and theoretically analyzed at different magnetic field strengths. The results field show that the magnetic sensitivity reaches up to -0.1039  dB/Oe in the range of 40-1600 e. The proposed method possesses high sensitivity and low cost compared with other expensive methods.

  19. Fiber optics: A research paper

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Drone, Melinda M.

    1987-01-01

    Some basic aspects concerning fiber optics are examined. Some history leading up to the development of optical fibers which are now used in the transmission of data in many areas of the world is discussed. Basic theory of the operation of fiber optics is discussed along with methods for improving performance of the optical fiber through much research and design. Splices and connectors are compared and short haul and long haul fiber optic networks are discussed. Fiber optics plays many roles in the commercial world. The use of fiber optics for communication applications is emphasized.

  20. Design of compact surface optical coupler based on vertically curved silicon waveguide for high-numerical-aperture single-mode optical fiber

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Atsumi, Yuki; Yoshida, Tomoya; Omoda, Emiko; Sakakibara, Youichi

    2017-09-01

    A surface optical coupler based on a vertically curved Si waveguide was designed for coupling with high-numerical aperture single-mode optical fibers with a mode-field diameter of 5 µm. This coupler has a quite small device size, with a height of approximately 12 µm, achieved by introducing an effective spot-size converter configured with the combination of an extremely short Si exponential-inverse taper and a dome-structured SiO2 lens formed on the coupler top. The designed coupler shows high-efficiency optical coupling, with a loss of 0.8 dB for TE polarized light, as well as broad-band coupling with a 0.5-dB-loss band of 420 nm.

  1. SERS Taper-Fiber Nanoprobe Modified by Gold Nanoparticles Wrapped with Ultrathin Alumina Film by Atomic Layer Deposition

    PubMed Central

    Xu, Wenjie; Chen, Zhenyi; Chen, Na; Zhang, Heng; Liu, Shupeng; Hu, Xinmao; Wen, Jianxiang; Wang, Tingyun

    2017-01-01

    A taper-fiber SERS nanoprobe modified by gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) with ultrathin alumina layers was fabricated and its ability to perform remote Raman detection was demonstrated. The taper-fiber nanoprobe (TFNP) with a nanoscale tip size under 80 nm was made by heated pulling combined with the chemical etching method. The Au-NPs were deposited on the TFNP surface with the electrostatic self-assembly technology, and then the TFNP was wrapped with ultrathin alumina layers by the atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique. The results told us that with the increasing thickness of the alumina film, the Raman signals decreased. With approximately 1 nm alumina film, the remote detection limit for R6G aqueous solution reached 10−6 mol/L. PMID:28245618

  2. Adiabatically tapered microstructured mode converter for selective excitation of the fundamental mode in a few mode fiber.

    PubMed

    Taher, Aymen Belhadj; Di Bin, Philippe; Bahloul, Faouzi; Tartaret-Josnière, Etienne; Jossent, Mathieu; Février, Sébastien; Attia, Rabah

    2016-01-25

    We propose a new technique to selectively excite the fundamental mode in a few mode fiber (FMF). This method of excitation is made from a single mode fiber (SMF) which is inserted facing the FMF into an air-silica microstructured cane before the assembly is adiabatically tapered. We study theoretically and numerically this method by calculating the effective indices of the propagated modes, their amplitudes along the taper and the adiabaticity criteria, showing the ability to achieve an excellent selective excitation of the fundamental mode in the FMF with negligible loss. We experimentally demonstrate that the proposed solution provides a successful mode conversion and allows an almost excellent fundamental mode excitation in the FMF (representing 99.8% of the total power).

  3. Quasi-phase-matched χ(3 )-parametric interactions in sinusoidally tapered waveguides

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Saleh, Mohammed F.

    2018-01-01

    In this article, I show how periodically tapered waveguides can be employed as efficient quasi-phase-matching schemes for four-wave mixing parametric processes in third-order nonlinear materials. As an example, a thorough study of enhancing third-harmonic generation in sinusoidally tapered fibers has been conducted. The quasi-phase-matching condition has been obtained for nonlinear parametric interactions in these structures using Fourier-series analysis. The dependencies of the conversion efficiency of the third harmonic on the modulation amplitude, tapering period, longitudinal-propagation direction, and pump wavelength have been studied. In comparison to uniform waveguides, the conversion efficiency has been enhanced by orders of magnitudes. I envisage that this work will have a great impact in the field of guided nonlinear optics using centrosymmetric materials.

  4. Towards a subcutaneous optical biosensor based on thermally hydrocarbonised porous silicon.

    PubMed

    Tong, Wing Yin; Sweetman, Martin J; Marzouk, Ezzat R; Fraser, Cara; Kuchel, Tim; Voelcker, Nicolas H

    2016-01-01

    Advanced biosensors in future medicine hinge on the evolvement of biomaterials. Porous silicon (pSi), a generally biodegradable and biocompatible material that can be fabricated to include environment-responsive optical characteristics, is an excellent candidate for in vivo biosensors. However, the feasibility of using this material as a subcutaneously implanted optical biosensor has never been demonstrated. Here, we investigated the stability and biocompatibility of a thermally-hydrocarbonised (THC) pSi optical rugate filter, and demonstrated its optical functionality in vitro and in vivo. We first compared pSi films with different surface chemistries and observed that the material was cytotoxic despite the outstanding stability of the THC pSi films. We then showed that the cytotoxicity correlates with reactive oxygen species levels, which could be mitigated by pre-incubation of THC pSi (PITHC pSi). PITHC pSi facilitates normal cellular phenotypes and is biocompatible in vivo. Importantly, the material also possesses optical properties capable of responding to microenvironmental changes that are readable non-invasively in cell culture and subcutaneous settings. Collectively, we demonstrate, for the first time, that PITHC pSi rugate filters are both biocompatible and optically functional for lab-on-a-chip and subcutaneous biosensing scenarios. We believe that this study will deepen our understanding of cell-pSi interactions and foster the development of implantable biosensors. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Integrated-optical directional coupler biosensor

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Luff, B. J.; Harris, R. D.; Wilkinson, J. S.; Wilson, R.; Schiffrin, D. J.

    1996-04-01

    We present measurements of biomolecular binding reactions, using a new type of integrated-optical biosensor based on a planar directional coupler structure. The device is fabricated by Ag+ - Na+ ion exchange in glass, and definition of the sensing region is achieved by use of transparent fluoropolymer isolation layers formed by thermal evaporation. The suitability of the sensor for application to the detection of environmental pollutants is considered.

  6. Method for optical and mechanically coupling optical fibers

    DOEpatents

    Toeppen, John S.

    1996-01-01

    A method and apparatus for splicing optical fibers. A fluorescing solder glass frit having a melting point lower than the melting point of first and second optical fibers is prepared. The solder glass frit is then attached to the end of the first optical fiber and/or the end of the second optical fiber. The ends of the optical fibers are aligned and placed in close proximity to each other. The solder glass frit is then heated to a temperature which is lower than the melting temperature of the first and second optical fibers, but which is high enough to melt the solder glass frit. A force is applied to the first and second optical fibers pushing the ends of the fibers towards each other. As the solder glass flit becomes molten, the layer of molten solder glass is compressed into a thin layer between the first and second optical fibers. The thin compressed layer of molten solder glass is allowed to cool such that the first and second optical fibers are bonded to each other by the hardened layer of solder glass.

  7. Measurement Sensitivity Of Liquid Droplet Parameters Using Optical Fibers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Das, Alok K.; Mandal, Anup K.

    1990-02-01

    A new clad probing technique is used to measure the size, number, refractive index and viscosity of liquid droplets sprayed from a pressure nozzle on an uncoated core-clad fiber. The probe monitors the clad mode power loss within the leaky ray zone represented as a three region fiber. Liquid droplets measured are Glycerine, commercial grade Turpentine, Linseed oil and some oil mixtures. The measurement sensitivity depends on probing conditions and clad diameter which is observed experimentally and verified analytically. A maximum sensitivity is obtained for the tapered probe-fiber diameter made equal to the clad thickness. A slowly tapered probe-fiber and a small end angle as well as separation of the sensor-fiber and the probe-fiber further improve the sensitivity. Under the best probing condition for 90-percent Glycerine droplets of - 50 micron diameter and a 50/125 micron sensor fiber with clad refractive index of 1.465 and 0.2 NA, the measured sensitivity per drop is 0.015 and 0.006 dB, respectively, for (10-20) and (100-200) droplets. Sensitivities for different systems are shown. The sensitivity is optimized by choosing proper fiber for known liquids.

  8. Specialty fibers for fiber optic sensor application

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bennett, K.; Koh, J.; Coon, J.; Chien, C. K.; Artuso, A.; Chen, X.; Nolan, D.; Li, M.-J.

    2007-09-01

    Over the last several years, Fiber Optic Sensor (FOS) applications have seen an increased acceptance in many areas including oil & gas production monitoring, gyroscopes, current sensors, structural sensing and monitoring, and aerospace applications. High level optical and mechanical reliability of optical fiber is necessary to guarantee reliable performance of FOS. In this paper, we review recent research and development activities on new specialty fibers. We discuss fiber design concepts and present both modeling and experimental results. The main approaches to enhancing fiber attributes include new index profile design and fiber coating modification.

  9. Microstructure analysis in the coupling region of fiber coupler with a novel electrical micro-heater

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shuai, Cijun; Gao, Chengde; Nie, Yi; Hu, Huanlong; Peng, Shuping

    2011-12-01

    Fused-tapered fiber coupler is widely used in optical-fiber communication, optical-fiber sensor and optical signal processing. Its optical performance is mainly determined by the glass properties in the coupling region. In this study, the effect of fused biconical taper (FBT) process on glass microstructure of fiber coupler was investigated by testing the microstructure of the cross-section of coupling region. The fiber coupler is fabricated with a novel home-designed electrical heater. Our experimental results show that the boundary between fiber core and fiber cladding become vague or indistinct after FBT under transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Ge 2+ in fiber core diffuses into fiber cladding. Crystallizations are observed in coupling region under scanning electron microscope (SEM) and microscopic infrared (IR), and the micro crystallizations become smaller with the drawing speed increasing. The wave number of fiberglass increases after FBT and it is in proportion to the drawing speed. The analysis of the microstructure in the coupling region explored the mechanism of the improvement in the performance of fiber couplers which can be used for the guidance of fabrication process.

  10. High power (2+1) ×1 taper-fused all-fiber side-pumped combiner

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wu, Juan; Ma, Yi; Yan, Hong

    2018-03-01

    A novel design and fabrication method of a (2+1) ×1 taper-fused all-fiber side-pumped combiner is reported. The pump coupling efficiency of this pump combiner was studied theoretically and experimentally. The measurement results indicated that the coupling efficiency of the pump light is 96.5%, the signal-to-pump isolation reaches 31dB, and the signal loss of the combiner is 0.19dB. A backward-pumped fiber laser system was established by using this (2+1) ×1 side-pumped combiner directly, achieving a signal laser output of 1007W with M2=1.33.

  11. Simultaneous refractive index and temperature measurements using a tapered bend-resistant fiber interferometer.

    PubMed

    Lu, Ping; Harris, Jeremie; Xu, Yanping; Lu, Yuangang; Chen, Liang; Bao, Xiaoyi

    2012-11-15

    Simultaneous measurements of refractive index (RI) and temperature are proposed and experimentally demonstrated by using a tapered bend-resistant fiber interferometer. Different phase shifts of an inner and outer cladding mode of the fiber interferometer are measured to determine the temperature compensated RI of a glycerol solution. The temperature coefficients of the inner and outer cladding modes are -0.0253 rad/°C and -0.0523 rad/°C, and the RI coefficients are 4.0403 rad/RIU and 44.823 rad/RIU, respectively. The minimum errors of temperature and RI are 0.6°C and 0.001 RIU, respectively.

  12. Novel fiber optic tip designs and devices for laser surgery

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hutchens, Thomas Clifton

    , assembled, and tested for use in Thulium fiber laser lithotripsy. A 1.00-mm-outer-diameter detachable fiber tip interface was designed, constructed, and tested ex vivo on urinary stones in the laboratory. Similar stone ablation rates between the previously studied tapered distal fiber tip and the detachable fiber tip were measured. For urologists desiring faster TFL lithotripsy procedures, the incorporation of detachable distal fiber tips allows for rapid replacement of damaged fiber tips without concern about the laser to trunk fiber connection. This method for preserving the trunk fiber could be a motivation for integrating a dedicated laser fiber into the ureteroscope, with detachable distal tips, thus freeing the working channel for the use of other surgical instruments. During laser lithotripsy, distal fiber tip degradation increases as the fiber core diameter decreases. However, smaller fiber diameters (≤ 200 microm) are more desirable because of increased saline irrigation rates in the single working channel of the ureteroscope and less impact on ureteroscope deflection. A hollow fiber cap is proposed to reduced fiber tip degradation in small diameter fibers, without compromising stone ablation rates. The disadvantage of the hollow fiber tip observed in the study is the increase in stone retropulsion. However, integrating the hollow fiber tip with a clinically used stone basket may allow for a robust stone ablation instrument that also minimizes retropulsion. These surgical approaches involving novel specialty fiber optic tip designs are discussed in this thesis.

  13. Fiber optic hydrophone

    DOEpatents

    Kuzmenko, Paul J.; Davis, Donald T.

    1994-01-01

    A miniature fiber optic hydrophone based on the principles of a Fabry-Perot interferometer. The hydrophone, in one embodiment, includes a body having a shaped flexible bladder at one end which defines a volume containing air or suitable gas, and including a membrane disposed adjacent a vent. An optic fiber extends into the body with one end terminating in spaced relation to the membrane. Acoustic waves in the water that impinge on the bladder cause the pressure of the volume therein to vary causing the membrane to deflect and modulate the reflectivity of the Fabry-Perot cavity formed by the membrane surface and the cleaved end of the optical fiber disposed adjacent to the membrane. When the light is transmitted down the optical fiber, the reflected signal is amplitude modulated by the incident acoustic wave. Another embodiment utilizes a fluid filled volume within which the fiber optic extends.

  14. Method for optical and mechanically coupling optical fibers

    DOEpatents

    Toeppen, J.S.

    1996-10-01

    A method and apparatus are disclosed for splicing optical fibers. A fluorescing solder glass frit having a melting point lower than the melting point of first and second optical fibers is prepared. The solder glass frit is then attached to the end of the first optical fiber and/or the end of the second optical fiber. The ends of the optical fibers are aligned and placed in close proximity to each other. The solder glass frit is then heated to a temperature which is lower than the melting temperature of the first and second optical fibers, but which is high enough to melt the solder glass frit. A force is applied to the first and second optical fibers pushing the ends of the fibers towards each other. As the solder glass flit becomes molten, the layer of molten solder glass is compressed into a thin layer between the first and second optical fibers. The thin compressed layer of molten solder glass is allowed to cool such that the first and second optical fibers are bonded to each other by the hardened layer of solder glass. 6 figs.

  15. Localized surface plasmon resonance-based fiber-optic sensor for the detection of triacylglycerides using silver nanoparticles.

    PubMed

    Baliyan, Anjli; Usha, Sruthi Prasood; Gupta, Banshi D; Gupta, Rani; Sharma, Enakshi Khular

    2017-10-01

    A label-free technique for the detection of triacylglycerides by a localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR)-based biosensor is demonstrated. An LSPR-based fiber-optic sensor probe is fabricated by immobilizing lipase enzyme on silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) coated on an unclad segment of a plastic clad optical fiber. The size and shape of nanoparticles were characterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and UV-visible spectroscopy. The peak absorbance wavelength changes with concentration of triacylglycerides surrounding the sensor probe, and sensitivity is estimated from shift in the peak absorbance wavelength as a function of concentration. The fabricated sensor was characterized for the concentration of triacylglyceride solution in the range 0 to 7 mM. The sensor shows the best sensitivity at a temperature of 37°C and pH 7.4 of the triacylglycerides emulsion with a response time of 40 s. A sensitivity of 28.5  nm/mM of triacylglyceride solution is obtained with a limit of detection of 0.016 mM in the entire range of triacylglycerides. This compact biosensor shows good selectivity, stability, and reproducibility in the entire physiological range of triacylglycerides and is well-suited to real-time online monitoring and remote sensing. (2017) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).

  16. Sensitive Detection of Small Particles in Fluids Using Optical Fiber Tip with Dielectrophoresis

    PubMed Central

    Tai, Yi-Hsin; Chang, Dao-Ming; Pan, Ming-Yang; Huang, Ding-Wei; Wei, Pei-Kuen

    2016-01-01

    This work presents using a tapered fiber tip coated with thin metallic film to detect small particles in water with high sensitivity. When an AC voltage applied to the Ti/Al coated fiber tip and indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate, a gradient electric field at the fiber tip induced attractive/repulsive force to suspended small particles due to the frequency-dependent dielectrophoresis (DEP) effect. Such DEP force greatly enhanced the concentration of the small particles near the tip. The increase of the local concentration also increased the scattering of surface plasmon wave near the fiber tip. Combined both DEP effect and scattering optical near-field, we show the detection limit of the concentration for 1.36 μm polystyrene beads can be down to 1 particle/mL. The detection limit of the Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria was 20 CFU/mL. The fiber tip sensor takes advantages of ultrasmall volume, label-free and simple detection system. PMID:26927128

  17. Tapered photonic crystal fiber for simplified Yb:fiber laser frequency comb with low pulse energy and robust f ceo singals.

    PubMed

    Jiang, Tongxiao; Wang, Aimin; Wang, Guizhong; Zhang, Wei; Niu, Fuzeng; Li, Chen; Zhang, Zhigang

    2014-01-27

    A tapered silica photonic crystal fiber was designed and fabricated to generate more than one octave spanning supercontinuum (from 550 nm to 1400 nm at -30 dB level), by an input pulse of 40 fs 200 pJ directly from an Yb:fiber ring laser. The low pulse energy spectrum broadening are favorable to generate the high contrast f ceo signals with low noise. The f ceo signal with 40 dB signal-to-noise ratio was detected, which helps to build a compact real-world frequency comb.

  18. Dual spherical single-mode-multimode-single-mode optical fiber temperature sensor based on a Mach–Zehnder interferometer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tan, Jianchang; Feng, Guoying; Zhang, Shulin; Liang, Jingchuan; Li, Wei; Luo, Yun

    2018-07-01

    A dual spherical single-mode-multimode-single-mode (DSSMS) optical fiber temperature sensor based on a Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) was designed and implemented in this paper. Theoretical and experimental results indicated that the LP01 mode in the core and the LP09 mode excited by the spherical structure were maintained and transmitted via multimode fiber and interfered at the second spherical structure, resulting in the interference spectrum. An increase or decrease in temperature can cause significant red-shift or blue-shift of the spectrum, respectively. The linearity of the spectral shift due to the temperature change is ~0.999, the sensitivity at 30 °C–540 °C is ~37.372 pm °C‑3, and at  ‑25 °C–25 °C is ~37.28 pm °C‑1. The reproducibility error of this all-fiber temperature sensor at 30 °C–540 °C is less than 0.15%. Compared with the optical fiber sensor with a tapered structure and fiber core offset structure, this MZI-based DSSMS optical fiber temperature sensor has higher mechanical strength. Moreover, benefiting from low-cost and environmentally friendly materials, it is expected to be a novel micro-nano all-fiber sensor.

  19. Fiber optic hydrophone

    DOEpatents

    Kuzmenko, P.J.; Davis, D.T.

    1994-05-10

    A miniature fiber optic hydrophone based on the principles of a Fabry-Perot interferometer is disclosed. The hydrophone, in one embodiment, includes a body having a shaped flexible bladder at one end which defines a volume containing air or suitable gas, and including a membrane disposed adjacent a vent. An optical fiber extends into the body with one end terminating in spaced relation to the membrane. Acoustic waves in the water that impinge on the bladder cause the pressure of the volume therein to vary causing the membrane to deflect and modulate the reflectivity of the Fabry-Perot cavity formed by the membrane surface and the cleaved end of the optical fiber disposed adjacent to the membrane. When the light is transmitted down the optical fiber, the reflected signal is amplitude modulated by the incident acoustic wave. Another embodiment utilizes a fluid filled volume within which the fiber optic extends. 2 figures.

  20. Noble metal nanostructures in optical biosensors: Basics, and their introduction to anti-doping detection.

    PubMed

    Malekzad, Hedieh; Zangabad, Parham Sahandi; Mohammadi, Hadi; Sadroddini, Mohsen; Jafari, Zahra; Mahlooji, Niloofar; Abbaspour, Somaye; Gholami, Somaye; Ghanbarpoor, Mana; Pashazadeh, Rahim; Beyzavi, Ali; Karimi, Mahdi; Hamblin, Michael R

    2018-03-01

    Nanotechnology has illustrated significant potentials in biomolecular-sensing applications; particularly its introduction to anti-doping detection is of great importance. Illicit recreational drugs, substances that can be potentially abused, and drugs with dosage limitations according to the prohibited lists announced by the World Antidoping Agency (WADA) are becoming of increasing interest to forensic chemists. In this review, the theoretical principles of optical biosensors based on noble metal nanoparticles, and the transduction mechanism of commonly-applied plasmonic biosensors are covered. We review different classes of recently-developed plasmonic biosensors for analytic determination and quantification of illicit drugs in anti-doping applications. The important classes of illicit drugs include anabolic steroids, opioids, stimulants, and peptide hormones. The main emphasis is on the advantages that noble metal nano-particles bring to optical biosensors for signal enhancement and the development of highly sensitive (label-free) biosensors. In the near future, such optical biosensors may be an invaluable substitute for conventional anti-doping detection methods such as chromatography-based approaches, and may even be commercialized for routine anti-doping tests.

  1. Investigations of the fabrication and the surface-enhanced Raman scattering detection applications for tapered fiber probes prepared with the laser-induced chemical deposition method.

    PubMed

    Fan, Qunfang; Cao, Jie; Liu, Ye; Yao, Bo; Mao, Qinghe

    2013-09-01

    The process of depositing nanoparticles onto tapered fiber probes with the laser-induced chemical deposition method (LICDM) and the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection performance of the prepared probes are experimentally investigated in this paper. Our results show that the nanoparticle-deposited tapered fiber probes prepared with the LICDM method depend strongly on the value of the cone angle. For small-angle tapered probes the nanoparticle-deposited areas are only focused at the taper tips, because the taper surfaces are mainly covered by a relatively low-intensity evanescent field. By lengthening the reaction time or increasing the induced power or solution concentration, it is still possible to deposit nanoparticles on small-angle tapers with the light-scattering effect. With 4-aminothiophenol as the testing molecule, it was found that for given preparation conditions, the cone angles for the tapered probes with the highest SERS spectral intensities for different excitation laser powers are almost the same. However, such an optimal cone angle is determined by the combined effects of both the localized surface plasmon resonance strength and the transmission loss generated by the nanoparticles deposited.

  2. Label-free optical biosensors based on aptamer-functionalized porous silicon scaffolds.

    PubMed

    Urmann, Katharina; Walter, Johanna-Gabriela; Scheper, Thomas; Segal, Ester

    2015-02-03

    A proof-of-concept for a label-free and reagentless optical biosensing platform based on nanostructured porous silicon (PSi) and aptamers is presented in this work. Aptamers are oligonucleotides (single-stranded DNA or RNA) that can bind their targets with high affinity and specificity, making them excellent recognition elements for biosensor design. Here we describe the fabrication and characterization of aptamer-conjugated PSi biosensors, where a previously characterized his-tag binding aptamer (6H7) is used as model system. Exposure of the aptamer-functionalized PSi to the target proteins as well as to complex fluids (i.e., bacteria lysates containing target proteins) results in robust and well-defined changes in the PSi optical interference spectrum, ascribed to specific aptamer-protein binding events occurring within the nanoscale pores, monitored in real time. The biosensors show exceptional stability and can be easily regenerated by a short rinsing step for multiple biosensing analyses. This proof-of-concept study demonstrates the possibility of designing highly stable and specific label-free optical PSi biosensors, employing aptamers as capture probes, holding immense potential for application in detection of a broad range of targets, in a simple yet reliable manner.

  3. Optical fiber stripper positioning apparatus

    DOEpatents

    Fyfe, Richard W.; Sanchez, Jr., Amadeo

    1990-01-01

    An optical fiber positioning apparatus for an optical fiber stripping device is disclosed which is capable of providing precise axial alignment between an optical fiber to be stripped of its outer jacket and the cutting blades of a stripping device. The apparatus includes a first bore having a width approximately equal to the diameter of an unstripped optical fiber and a counter bore axially aligned with the first bore and dimensioned to precisely receive a portion of the stripping device in axial alignment with notched cutting blades within the stripping device to thereby axially align the notched cutting blades of the stripping device with the axis of the optical fiber to permit the notched cutting blades to sever the jacket on the optical fiber without damaging the cladding on the optical fiber. In a preferred embodiment, the apparatus further includes a fiber stop which permits determination of the length of jacket to be removed from the optical fiber.

  4. Optimization of coupled device based on optical fiber with crystalline and integrated resonators

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bassir, David; Salzenstein, Patrice; Zhang, Mingjun

    2017-05-01

    Because of the advantages in terms of reproducibility for optical resonators on chip which are designed of various topologies and integration with optical devices. To increase the Q-factor from the lower rang [104 - 106 ] to higher one [108 -1010] [1-4] one use crystalline resonators. It is much complicated to couple an optical signal from a tapered fiber to crystalline resonator than from a defined ridge to a resonator designed on a chip. In this work, we will focus on the optimization of the crystalline resonators under straight wave guide (based on COMSOL multi-physic software) [5- 7] and subject also to technological constraints of manufacturing. The coupling problem at the Nano scale makes our optimizations problem more dynamics in term of design space.

  5. Fiber Optic Feed

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1990-11-06

    Naval Research Laboratory IIK Washington, DC,20375 5000 NRL Memorandum Report 6741 0 N Fiber Optic Feed DENZIL STILWELL, MARK PARENT AND LEw GOLDBERG...SUBTITLE S. FUNDING NUMBERS Fiber Optic Feed 53-0611-A0 6. AUTHOR(S) P. D. Stilwell, M. G. Parent, L. Goldberg 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND...DISTRIBUTION CODE Approved for public release; distribution unlimited. 13. ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 words) This report details a Fiber Optic Feeding

  6. Simultaneous measurement for strain and temperature based on the twisted-tapering fiber structure

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ni, Wenjun; Lu, Ping; Liu, Deming; Zhang, Jiangshan

    2017-10-01

    A novel special fiber fabrication method based on a common single mode fiber (SMF) for dual-parameters measurement has been proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The fabrication setup is based on a three dimensional electric displacement platform which can realize the function of twisting and tapering at the same time. The proposed novel structure simultaneously undergoes the aforementioned two processes. Then a twisted-tapering fiber structure is formed. There are two dominant resonant wavelengths in the spectrum. Thus, simultaneous measurement for strain and temperature can be achieved. The following result shows that the strain measurement can be achieved by intensity demodulation, with the sensitivity of -0.01565 dB/μɛ and 0.00705 dB/μɛ corresponding to the dip1 and dip2, respectively. Therefore, the total sensitivity of the strain is 0.0227 dB/μɛ. Moreover, the cross impacts of the wavelength shift are - 0.772 pm/μɛ and 0.895 pm/μɛ. Similarly, the wavelength demodulation is selected to temperature measurement. The temperature sensitivity of 50.53pm/°C and 45.12pm/°C are obtained. The cross sensitivity of the intensity variation are 0.04058dB/°C and 0.02031 dB/°C. As a result, the dual-parameters can be described to a cross matrix of the sensitivity value. The proposed sensor has a great potential for engineering applications due to its compact structure, simple manufacture and low cost.

  7. Improved Optical Fiber Chemical Sensors

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Egalon, Claudio O.; Rogowski, Robert S.

    1994-01-01

    Calculations, based on exact theory of optical fiber, have shown how to increase optical efficiency sensitivity of active-core, step-index-profile optical-fiber fluorosensor. Calculations result of efforts to improve efficiency of optical-fiber chemical sensor of previous concept described in "Making Optical-Fiber Chemical Sensors More Sensitive" (LAR-14525). Optical fiber chemical detector of enhanced sensitivity made in several configurations. Portion of fluorescence or chemiluminescence generated in core, and launched directly into bound electromagnetic modes that propagate along core to photodetector.

  8. Detection of low levels of Listeria monocytogenes cells by using a fiber-optic immunosensor.

    PubMed

    Geng, Tao; Morgan, Mark T; Bhunia, Arun K

    2004-10-01

    Biosensor technology has a great potential to meet the need for sensitive and nearly real-time microbial detection from foods. An antibody-based fiber-optic biosensor to detect low levels of Listeria monocytogenes cells following an enrichment step was developed. The principle of the sensor is a sandwich immunoassay where a rabbit polyclonal antibody was first immobilized on polystyrene fiber waveguides through a biotin-streptavidin reaction to capture Listeria cells on the fiber. Capture of cells on the fibers was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. A cyanine 5-labeled murine monoclonal antibody, C11E9, was used to generate a specific fluorescent signal, which was acquired by launching a 635-nm laser light from an Analyte 2000 and collected by a photodetector at 670 to 710 nm. This immunosensor was specific for L. monocytogenes and showed a significantly higher signal strength than for other Listeria species or other microorganisms, including Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Salmonella enterica, Lactobacillus plantarum, Carnobacterium gallinarum, Hafnia alvei, Corynebacterium glutamicum, Enterobacter aerogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Serratia marcescens, in pure or in mixed-culture setup. Fiber-optic results could be obtained within 2.5 h of sampling. The sensitivity threshold was about 4.3 x 10(3) CFU/ml for a pure culture of L. monocytogenes grown at 37 degrees C. When L. monocytogenes was mixed with lactic acid bacteria or grown at 10 degrees C with 3.5% NaCl, the detection threshold was 4.1 x 10(4) or 2.8 x 10(7) CFU/ml, respectively. In less than 24 h, this method could detect L. monocytogenes in hot dog or bologna naturally contaminated or artificially inoculated with 10 to 1,000 CFU/g after enrichment in buffered Listeria enrichment broth.

  9. Research progress in fiber optic sensors and systems at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Werneck, Marcelo M.; Ferreira, Aldo P.; Maggi, Luis E.; De Carvalho, C. C.; Ribeiro, R. M.

    1999-02-01

    As widely known, fiberoptics (FO) are being used in a large variety of sensor an systems particularly for their small dimensions and low cost, large bandwidth and favorable dielectric properties. These properties have allowed us to develop sensor and systems for general applications and, particularly, for biomedical engineering. The intravasculator pressure sensor was designed for small dimensions and high bandwidth. The system is based on light- intensity modulation technique and use a 2 mm-diameter elastomer membrane as the sensor element and a pigtailed laser as a light source. The optical power out put curve was linear for pressures within the range of 0 to 300 mmHg. The real time optical biosensor uses the evanescent field technique for monitoring Escherichia coli growth in culture media. The optical biosensor monitors interactions between the analytic and the evanescent field of an optical fiber passing through it. The FO based high voltage and current sensor is a measuring system designed for monitoring voltage and current in high voltage transmission lines. The linearity of the system is better than 2 percent in both ranges of 0 to 25 kV and 0 to 1000 A. The optical flowmeter uses a cross-correlation technique that analyzes two light beams crossing the flow separated by a fixed distance. The x-ray image sensor uses a scintillating FO array, one FO for each image pixel to form an image of the x-ray field. The systems described in this paper use general-purpose components including optical fibers and optoelectronic devices, which are readily available, and of low cost.

  10. Buying Fiber-Optic Networks.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fickes, Michael

    2003-01-01

    Describes consortia formed by college and university administrators to buy, manage, and maintain their own fiber-optic networks with the goals of cutting costs of leasing fiber-optic cable and planning for the future. Growth capacity is the real advantage of owning fiber-optic systems. (SLD)

  11. Enhanced radiation resistant fiber optics

    DOEpatents

    Lyons, Peter B.; Looney, Larry D.

    1993-01-01

    A process for producing an optical fiber having enhanced radiation resitance is provided, the process including maintaining an optical fiber within a hydrogen-containing atmosphere for sufficient time to yield a hydrogen-permeated optical fiber having an elevated internal hydrogen concentration, and irradiating the hydrogen-permeated optical fiber at a time while the optical fiber has an elevated internal hydrogen concentration with a source of ionizing radiation. The radiation source is typically a cobalt-60 source and the fiber is pre-irradiated with a dose level up to about 1000 kilorads of radiation.

  12. Enhanced radiation resistant fiber optics

    DOEpatents

    Lyons, P.B.; Looney, L.D.

    1993-11-30

    A process for producing an optical fiber having enhanced radiation resistance is provided, the process including maintaining an optical fiber within a hydrogen-containing atmosphere for sufficient time to yield a hydrogen-permeated optical fiber having an elevated internal hydrogen concentration, and irradiating the hydrogen-permeated optical fiber at a time while the optical fiber has an elevated internal hydrogen concentration with a source of ionizing radiation. The radiation source is typically a cobalt-60 source and the fiber is pre-irradiated with a dose level up to about 1000 kilorads of radiation. 4 figures.

  13. WGM-Resonator/Tapered-Waveguide White-Light Sensor Optics

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Stekalov, Dmitry; Maleki, Lute; Matsko, Andrey; Savchenkov, Anatoliy; Iltchenko, Vladimir

    2007-01-01

    Theoretical and experimental investigations have demonstrated the feasibility of compact white-light sensor optics consisting of unitary combinations of (1) low-profile whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) resonators and (2) tapered rod optical waveguides. These sensors are highly wavelength-dispersive and are expected to be especially useful in biochemical applications for measuring absorption spectra of liquids. These sensor optics exploit the properties of a special class of non-diffracting light beams that are denoted Bessel beams because their amplitudes are proportional to Bessel functions of the radii from their central axes. High-order Bessel beams can have large values of angular momentum. In a sensor optic of this type, a low-profile WGM resonator that supports modes having large angular momenta is used to generate high-order Bessel beams. As used here, "low-profile" signifies that the WGM resonator is an integral part of the rod optical waveguide but has a radius slightly different from that of the adjacent part(s).

  14. Performance of optical biosensor using alcohol oxidase enzyme for formaldehyde detection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sari, A. P.; Rachim, A.; Nurlely, Fauzia, V.

    2017-07-01

    The recent issue in the world is the long exposure of formaldehyde which is can increase the risk of human health, therefore, that is very important to develop a device and method that can be optimized to detect the formaldehyde elements accurately, have a long lifetime and can be fabricated and produced in large quantities. A new and simple prepared optical biosensor for detection of formaldehyde in aqueous solutions using alcohol oxidase (AOX) enzyme was successfully fabricated. The poly-n-butyl acrylic-co-N-acryloxysuccinimide (nBA-NAS) membranes containing chromoionophore ETH5294 were used for immobilization of alcohol oxidase enzyme (AOX). Biosensor response was based on the colour change of chromoionophore as a result of enzymatic oxidation of formaldehyde and correlated with the detection concentration of formaldehyde. The performance of biosensor parameters were measured through the optical absorption value using UV-Vis spectrophotometer including the repeatability, reproducibility, selectivity and lifetime. The results showed that the prepared biosensor has good repeatability (RSD = 1.9 %) and good reproducibility (RSD = 2.1 %). The biosensor was selective formaldehyde with no disturbance by methanol, ethanol, and acetaldehyde, and also stable before 49 days and decrease by 41.77 % after 49 days.

  15. Optical micro-bubble resonators as promising biosensors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Giannetti, A.; Barucci, A.; Berneschi, S.; Cosci, A.; Cosi, F.; Farnesi, D.; Nunzi Conti, G.; Pelli, S.; Soria, S.; Tombelli, S.; Trono, C.; Righini, G. C.; Baldini, F.

    2015-05-01

    Recently, optical micro-bubble resonators (OMBRs) have gained an increasing interest in many fields of photonics thanks to their particular properties. These hollow microstructures can be suitable for the realization of label - free optical biosensors by combining the whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonator properties with the intrinsic capability of integrated microfluidics. In fact, the WGMs are morphology-dependent modes: any change on the OMBR inner surface (due to chemical and/or biochemical binding) causes a shift of the resonance position and reduces the Q factor value of the cavity. By measuring this shift, it is possible to obtain information on the concentration of the analyte to be detected. A crucial step for the development of an OMBR-based biosensor is constituted by the functionalization of its inner surface. In this work we report on the development of a physical and chemical process able to guarantee a good homogeneity of the deposed bio-layer and, contemporary, to preserve a high quality factor Q of the cavity. The OMBR capability of working as bioassay was proved by different optical techniques, such as the real time measurement of the resonance broadening after each functionalization step and fluorescence microscopy.

  16. Magneto-Optic Field Coupling in Optical Fiber Bragg Gratings

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Carman, Gregory P. (Inventor); Mohanchandra, Panduranga K. (Inventor); Emmons, Michael C. (Inventor); Richards, William Lance (Inventor)

    2016-01-01

    The invention is a magneto-optic coupled magnetic sensor that comprises a standard optical fiber Bragg grating system. The system includes an optical fiber with at least one Bragg grating therein. The optical fiber has at least an inner core and a cladding that surrounds the inner core. The optical fiber is part of an optical system that includes an interrogation device that provides a light wave through the optical fiber and a system to determine the change in the index of refraction of the optical fiber. The cladding of the optical fiber comprises at least a portion of which is made up of ferromagnetic particles so that the ferromagnetic particles are subject to the light wave provided by the interrogation system. When a magnetic field is present, the ferromagnetic particles change the optical properties of the sensor directly.

  17. The point-spread function of fiber-coupled area detectors

    PubMed Central

    Holton, James M.; Nielsen, Chris; Frankel, Kenneth A.

    2012-01-01

    The point-spread function (PSF) of a fiber-optic taper-coupled CCD area detector was measured over five decades of intensity using a 20 µm X-ray beam and ∼2000-fold averaging. The ‘tails’ of the PSF clearly revealed that it is neither Gaussian nor Lorentzian, but instead resembles the solid angle subtended by a pixel at a point source of light held a small distance (∼27 µm) above the pixel plane. This converges to an inverse cube law far from the beam impact point. Further analysis revealed that the tails are dominated by the fiber-optic taper, with negligible contribution from the phosphor, suggesting that the PSF of all fiber-coupled CCD-type detectors is best described as a Moffat function. PMID:23093762

  18. High energy supercontinuum sources using tapered photonic crystal fibers for multispectral photoacoustic microscopy.

    PubMed

    Bondu, Magalie; Brooks, Christopher; Jakobsen, Christian; Oakes, Keith; Moselund, Peter Morten; Leick, Lasse; Bang, Ole; Podoleanu, Adrian

    2016-06-01

    We demonstrate a record bandwidth high energy supercontinuum source suitable for multispectral photoacoustic microscopy. The source has more than 150  nJ/10  nm bandwidth over a spectral range of 500 to 1600 nm. This performance is achieved using a carefully designed fiber taper with large-core input for improved power handling and small-core output that provides the desired spectral range of the supercontinuum source.

  19. Switchable multi-wavelength erbium-doped fiber ring laser based on a tapered in-line Mach–Zehnder interferometer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhou, Yuxin; Wang, Xin; Tang, Zijuan; Lou, Shuqin

    2018-05-01

    In this paper, a switchable multi-wavelength erbium-doped fiber ring laser based on a tapered in-line Mach–Zehnder interferometer is proposed. The in-line Mach–Zehnder interferometer is fabricated by splicing a large-core fiber between two segments of single mode fibers, in which the first splicing point is tapered and the second splicing point is connected directly. By carefully rotating the polarization controller, switchable single-, dual-, triple- and quad-wavelength lasing outputs can be obtained with a side mode suppression ratio higher than 50 dB. The maximal peak power difference of multi-wavelength lasing is 3.67 dB, demonstrating a good power equalization performance. Furthermore, the proposed laser is proven to be very stable at room temperature. The wavelength shifts and peak power fluctuations are less than 0.02 nm and 1.3 dB over half an hour. In addition, stable quintuple-wavelength lasing with a side mode suppression ratio higher than 50 dB can also be realized when the filter length is changed.

  20. Aerogel-clad optical fiber

    DOEpatents

    Sprehn, Gregory A.; Hrubesh, Lawrence W.; Poco, John F.; Sandler, Pamela H.

    1997-01-01

    An optical fiber is surrounded by an aerogel cladding. For a low density aerogel, the index of refraction of the aerogel is close to that of air, which provides a high numerical aperture to the optical fiber. Due to the high numerical aperture, the aerogel clad optical fiber has improved light collection efficiency.

  1. Dispersion tuning in sub-micron tapers for third-harmonic and photon triplet generation.

    PubMed

    Hammer, Jonas; Cavanna, Andrea; Pennetta, Riccardo; Chekhova, Maria V; Russell, Philip St J; Joly, Nicolas Y

    2018-05-15

    Precise control of the dispersion landscape is of crucial importance if optical fibers are to be successfully used for the generation of three-photon states of light-the inverse of third-harmonic generation (THG). Here we report gas-tuning of intermodal phase-matched THG in sub-micron-diameter tapered optical fiber. By adjusting the pressure of the surrounding argon gas up to 50 bars, intermodally phase-matched third-harmonic light can be generated for pump wavelengths within a 15 nm range around 1.38 μm. We also measure the infrared fluorescence generated in the fiber when pumped in the visible and estimate that the accidental coincidence rate in this signal is lower than the predicted detection rate of photon triplets.

  2. Fabrication of fiber-optic localized surface plasmon resonance sensor and its application to detect antibody-antigen reaction of interferon-gamma

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jeong, Hyeon-Ho; Erdene, Norov; Lee, Seung-Ki; Jeong, Dae-Hong; Park, Jae-Hyoung

    2011-12-01

    A fiber-optic localized surface plasmon (FO LSPR) sensor was fabricated by gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) immobilized on the end-face of an optical fiber. When Au NPs were formed on the end-face of an optical fiber by chemical reaction, Au NPs aggregation occurred and the Au NPs were immobilized in various forms such as monomers, dimers, trimers, etc. The component ratio of the Au NPs on the end-face of the fabricated FO LSPR sensor was slightly changed whenever the sensors were fabricated in the same condition. Including this phenomenon, the FO LSPR sensor was fabricated with high sensitivity by controlling the density of Au NPs. Also, the fabricated sensors were measured for the resonance intensity for the different optical systems and analyzed for the effect on sensitivity. Finally, for application as a biosensor, the sensor was used for detecting the antibody-antigen reaction of interferon-gamma.

  3. Octave spanning supercontinuum in an As₂S₃ taper using ultralow pump pulse energy.

    PubMed

    Hudson, Darren D; Dekker, Stephen A; Mägi, Eric C; Judge, Alexander C; Jackson, Stuart D; Li, Enbang; Sanghera, J S; Shaw, L B; Aggarwal, I D; Eggleton, Benjamin J

    2011-04-01

    An octave spanning spectrum is generated in an As₂S₃ taper via 77 pJ pulses from an ultrafast fiber laser. Using a previously developed tapering method, we construct a 1.3 μm taper that has a zero-dispersion wavelength around 1.4 μm. The low two-photon absorption of sulfide-based chalcogenide fiber allows for higher input powers than previous efforts in selenium-based chalcogenide tapered fibers. This higher power handling capability combined with input pulse chirp compensation allows an octave spanning spectrum to be generated directly from the taper using the unamplified laser output.

  4. Toward efficient fiber-based quantum interface (Conference Presentation)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Soshenko, Vladimir; Vorobyov, Vadim V.; Bolshedvorsky, Stepan; Lebedev, Nikolay; Akimov, Alexey V.; Sorokin, Vadim; Smolyaninov, Andrey

    2016-04-01

    NV center in diamond is attracting a lot of attention in quantum information processing community [1]. Been spin system in clean and well-controlled environment of diamond it shows outstanding performance as quantum memory even at room temperature, spin control with single shot optical readout and possibility to build up quantum registers even on single NV center. Moreover, NV centers could be used as high-resolution sensitive elements of detectors of magnetic or electric field, temperature, tension, force or rotation. For all of these applications collection of the light emitted by NV center is crucial point. There were number of approaches suggested to address this issue, proposing use of surface plasmoms [2], manufacturing structures in diamond [3] etc. One of the key feature of any practically important interface is compatibility with the fiber technology. Several groups attacking this problem using various approaches. One of them is placing of nanodiamonds in the holes of photonic crystal fiber [4], another is utilization of AFM to pick and place nanodiamond on the tapered fiber[5]. We have developed a novel technique of placing a nanodiamond with single NV center on the tapered fiber by controlled transfer of a nanodiamond from one "donor" tapered fiber to the "target" clean tapered fiber. We verify our ability to transfer only single color centers by means of measurement of second order correlation function. With this technique, we were able to double collection efficiency of confocal microscope. The majority of the factors limiting the collection of photons via optical fiber are technical and may be removed allowing order of magnitude improved in collection. We also discuss number of extensions of this technique to all fiber excitation and integration with nanostructures. References: [1] Marcus W. Doherty, Neil B. Manson, Paul Delaney, Fedor Jelezko, Jörg Wrachtrup, Lloyd C.L. Hollenberg , " The nitrogen-vacancy colour centre in diamond," Physics Reports

  5. Fiber optic laser rod

    DOEpatents

    Erickson, G.F.

    1988-04-13

    A laser rod is formed from a plurality of optical fibers, each forming an individual laser. Synchronization of the individual fiber lasers is obtained by evanescent wave coupling between adjacent optical fiber cores. The fiber cores are dye-doped and spaced at a distance appropriate for evanescent wave coupling at the wavelength of the selected dye. An interstitial material having an index of refraction lower than that of the fiber core provides the optical isolation for effective lasing action while maintaining the cores at the appropriate coupling distance. 2 figs.

  6. Aerogel-clad optical fiber

    DOEpatents

    Sprehn, G.A.; Hrubesh, L.W.; Poco, J.F.; Sandler, P.H.

    1997-11-04

    An optical fiber is surrounded by an aerogel cladding. For a low density aerogel, the index of refraction of the aerogel is close to that of air, which provides a high numerical aperture to the optical fiber. Due to the high numerical aperture, the aerogel clad optical fiber has improved light collection efficiency. 4 figs.

  7. Evanescent wave absorbance based fiber optic biosensor for label-free detection of E. coli at 280 nm wavelength.

    PubMed

    Bharadwaj, Reshma; Sai, V V R; Thakare, Kamini; Dhawangale, Arvind; Kundu, Tapanendu; Titus, Susan; Verma, Pradeep Kumar; Mukherji, Soumyo

    2011-03-15

    A novel label-free technique for the detection of pathogens based on evanescent wave absorbance (EWA) changes at 280 nm from a U-bent optical fiber sensor is demonstrated. Bending a decladded fiber into a U-shaped structure enhances the penetration depth of evanescent waves and hence sensitivity of the probe. We show that the enhanced EWA response from such U-bent probes, caused by the inherent optical absorbance properties of bacterial cells or biomolecules specifically bound to the sensor surface, can be exploited for the detection of pathogens. A portable optical set-up with a UV light emitting diode, a spectrometer and U-bent fiber optic probe of 200 μm core diameter, 0.75 mm bend radius and effective probe length of 1cm demonstrated an ability to detect less than 1000 cfu/ml. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  8. Fiber-optic fluorescence imaging

    PubMed Central

    Flusberg, Benjamin A; Cocker, Eric D; Piyawattanametha, Wibool; Jung, Juergen C; Cheung, Eunice L M; Schnitzer, Mark J

    2010-01-01

    Optical fibers guide light between separate locations and enable new types of fluorescence imaging. Fiber-optic fluorescence imaging systems include portable handheld microscopes, flexible endoscopes well suited for imaging within hollow tissue cavities and microendoscopes that allow minimally invasive high-resolution imaging deep within tissue. A challenge in the creation of such devices is the design and integration of miniaturized optical and mechanical components. Until recently, fiber-based fluorescence imaging was mainly limited to epifluorescence and scanning confocal modalities. Two new classes of photonic crystal fiber facilitate ultrashort pulse delivery for fiber-optic two-photon fluorescence imaging. An upcoming generation of fluorescence imaging devices will be based on microfabricated device components. PMID:16299479

  9. Fiber optic crossbar switch for automatically patching optical signals

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bell, C. H. (Inventor)

    1983-01-01

    A system for automatically optically switching fiber optic data signals between a plurality of input optical fibers and selective ones of a plurality of output fibers is described. The system includes optical detectors which are connected to each of the input fibers for converting the optic data signals appearing at the respective input fibers to an RF signal. A plurality of RF to optical signal converters are arranged in rows and columns. The output of each of the optical detectors are each applied to a respective row of optical signal converted for being converters back to an optical signal when the particular optical signal converter is selectively activated by a dc voltage.

  10. Non-contact fiber-optical trapping of motile bacteria: dynamics observation and energy estimation

    PubMed Central

    Xin, Hongbao; Liu, Qingyuan; Li, Baojun

    2014-01-01

    The dynamics and energy conversion of bacteria are strongly associated with bacterial activities, such as survival, spreading of bacterial diseases and their pathogenesis. Although different discoveries have been reported on trapped bacteria (i.e. immobilized bacteria), the investigation on the dynamics and energy conversion of motile bacteria in the process of trapping is highly desirable. Here, we report a non-contact optical trapping of motile bacteria using a modified tapered optical fiber. Using Escherichia coli as an example, both single and multiple motile bacteria have been trapped and manipulated in a non-contact manner. Bacterial dynamics has been observed and bacterial energy has been estimated in the trapping process. This non-contact optical trapping provides a new opportunity for better understanding the bacterial dynamics and energy conversion at the single cell level. PMID:25300713

  11. Photonic generation of ultra-wide-band doublet pulse through monolithic integration of tapered directional coupler and quantum well waveguide.

    PubMed

    Kuo, Yu-Zheng; Wu, Jui-Pin; Wu, Tsu-Hsiu; Chiu, Yi-Jen

    2012-10-22

    We proposed and demonstrated a novel scheme of photonic ultra-wide-band (UWB) doublet pulse based on monolithic integration of tapered optical-direction coupler (TODC) and multiple-quantum-well (MQW) waveguide. TODC is formed by a top tapered MQW waveguide vertically integrating with an underneath passive waveguide. Through simultaneous field-driven optical index- and absorption- change in MQW, the partial optical coupling in TODC can be used to get a valley-shaped of optical transmission against voltage. Therefore, doublet-enveloped optical pulse can be realized by high-speed and high-efficient conversion of input electrical pulse. By just adjusting bias through MQW, 1530 nm photonic UWB doublet optical pulse with 75-ps pulse width, below -41.3 dBm power, 125% fractional bandwidth, and 7.5 GHz of -10 dB bandwidth has been demonstrated, fitted into FCC requirement (3.1 GHz~10.6 GHz). Doublet-pulse data transmission generated in optical fiber is also performed for further characterization, exhibiting a successful 1.25 Gb/s error-free transmission. It suggests such optoelectronic integration template can be applied for photonic UWB generation in fiber-based communications.

  12. Fiber Optics Technology.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Burns, William E.

    1986-01-01

    Discusses various applications of fiber optics technology: information systems, industrial robots, medicine, television, transportation, and training. Types of jobs that will be available with fiber optics training (such as electricians and telephone cable installers and splicers) are examined. (CT)

  13. Microbend fiber-optic temperature sensor

    DOEpatents

    Weiss, J.D.

    1995-05-30

    A temperature sensor is made of optical fiber into which quasi-sinusoidal microbends have been permanently introduced. In particular, the present invention includes a graded-index optical fiber directing steady light through a section of the optical fiber containing a plurality of permanent microbends. The microbend section of the optical fiber is contained in a thermally expansive sheath, attached to a thermally expansive structure, or attached to a bimetallic element undergoing temperature changes and being monitored. The microbend section is secured to the thermally expansive sheath which allows the amplitude of the microbends to decrease with temperature. The resultant increase in the optical fiber`s transmission thus allows temperature to be measured. The plural microbend section of the optical fiber is secured to the thermally expansive structure only at its ends and the microbends themselves are completely unconstrained laterally by any bonding agent to obtain maximum longitudinal temperature sensitivity. Although the permanent microbends reduce the transmission capabilities of fiber optics, the present invention utilizes this phenomenon as a transduction mechanism which is optimized to measure temperature. 5 figs.

  14. Optical-fiber-based Mueller optical coherence tomography.

    PubMed

    Jiao, Shuliang; Yu, Wurong; Stoica, George; Wang, Lihong V

    2003-07-15

    An optical-fiber-based multichannel polarization-sensitive Mueller optical coherence tomography (OCT) system was built to acquire the Jones or Mueller matrix of a scattering medium, such as biological tissue. For the first time to our knowledge, fiber-based polarization-sensitive OCT was dynamically calibrated to eliminate the polarization distortion caused by the single-mode optical fiber in the sample arm, thereby overcoming a key technical impediment to the application of optical fibers in this technology. The round-trip Jones matrix of the sampling fiber was acquired from the reflecting surface of the sample for each depth scan (A scan) with our OCT system. A new rigorous algorithm was then used to retrieve the calibrated polarization properties of the sample. This algorithm was validated with experimental data. The skin of a rat was imaged with this fiber-based system.

  15. Long distance, distributed gas sensing based on micro-nano fiber evanescent wave quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    He, Ying; Ma, Yufei; Tong, Yao; Yu, Xin; Peng, Zhenfang; Gao, Jing; Tittel, Frank K.

    2017-12-01

    A long distance, distributed gas sensing using the micro-nano fiber evanescent wave (FEW) quartz enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy technique was demonstrated. Such a sensor scheme has the advantages of higher detection sensitivity, distributed gas sensing ability, lower cost, and a simpler fabrication procedure compared to conventional FEW gas sensors using a photonic crystal fiber or a tapered fiber with chemical sputtering. A 3 km single mode fiber with multiple tapers and an erbium doped fiber amplifier with an output optical power of 700 mW were employed to perform long distance, distributed gas measurements.

  16. [Optical-fiber Fourier transform spectrometer].

    PubMed

    Liu, Yong; Li, Bao-sheng; Liu, Yan; Zhai, Yu-feng; Wang, An

    2006-10-01

    A novel Fourier transform spectrum analyzer based on a single mode fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer is reported. An optical fiber Fourier transform spectrometer, with bulk optics components replaced by fiber optical components and with the moving mirror replaced by a piezoelectric element fiber stretcher was constructed. The output spectrum of a LD below threshold was measured. Experiment result agrees with that by using grating spectrum analyzer, showing the feasibility of the optic fiber Fourier transform spectrometer for practical spectrum measurement. Spectrum resolution -7 cm(-1) was obtained in our experiment. The resolution can be further improved by increasing the maximum optical path difference.

  17. Selenium semiconductor core optical fibers

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Tang, G. W.; Qian, Q., E-mail: qianqi@scut.edu.cn; Peng, K. L.

    2015-02-15

    Phosphate glass-clad optical fibers containing selenium (Se) semiconductor core were fabricated using a molten core method. The cores were found to be amorphous as evidenced by X-ray diffraction and corroborated by Micro-Raman spectrum. Elemental analysis across the core/clad interface suggests that there is some diffusion of about 3 wt % oxygen in the core region. Phosphate glass-clad crystalline selenium core optical fibers were obtained by a postdrawing annealing process. A two-cm-long crystalline selenium semiconductor core optical fibers, electrically contacted to external circuitry through the fiber end facets, exhibit a three times change in conductivity between dark and illuminated states. Suchmore » crystalline selenium semiconductor core optical fibers have promising utility in optical switch and photoconductivity of optical fiber array.« less

  18. Optical fiber switch

    DOEpatents

    Early, James W.; Lester, Charles S.

    2002-01-01

    Optical fiber switches operated by electrical activation of at least one laser light modulator through which laser light is directed into at least one polarizer are used for the sequential transport of laser light from a single laser into a plurality of optical fibers. In one embodiment of the invention, laser light from a single excitation laser is sequentially transported to a plurality of optical fibers which in turn transport the laser light to separate individual remotely located laser fuel ignitors. The invention can be operated electro-optically with no need for any mechanical or moving parts, or, alternatively, can be operated electro-mechanically. The invention can be used to switch either pulsed or continuous wave laser light.

  19. In-Line Fiber Optic Interferometric Sensors in Single-Mode Fibers

    PubMed Central

    Zhu, Tao; Wu, Di; Liu, Min; Duan, De-Wen

    2012-01-01

    In-line fiber optic interferometers have attracted intensive attention for their potential sensing applications in refractive index, temperature, pressure and strain measurement, etc. Typical in-line fiber-optic interferometers are of two types: Fabry-Perot interferometers and core-cladding-mode interferometers. It's known that the in-line fiber optic interferometers based on single-mode fibers can exhibit compact structures, easy fabrication and low cost. In this paper, we review two kinds of typical in-line fiber optic interferometers formed in single-mode fibers fabricated with different post-processing techniques. Also, some recently reported specific technologies for fabricating such fiber optic interferometers are presented. PMID:23112608

  20. Genetically engineered microbial biosensors for in situ monitoring of environmental pollution.

    PubMed

    Shin, Hae Ja

    2011-02-01

    Microbial biosensors are compact, portable, cost effective, and simple to use, making them seem eminently suitable for the in situ monitoring of environmental pollution. One promising approach for such applications is the fusion of reporter genes with regulatory genes that are dose-dependently responsive to the target chemicals or physiological signals. Their biosensor capabilities, such as target range and sensitivity, could be improved by modification of regulatory genes. Recent uses of such genetically engineered microbial biosensors include the development of portable biosensor kits and high-throughput cell arrays on chips, optic fibers, or other platforms for on-site and on-line monitoring of environmental pollution. This mini-review discusses recent advances in microbial biosensors and their future prospects, with a focus on the development and application of genetically modified microbial biosensors for in situ environmental monitoring.