Specialty optical fibers for advanced sensing applications

Optical fiber technology has changed the world by enabling extraordinary growth in world-wide communications and sensing.The rapid development and wide deployment of optical fiber sensors are driven by their excellent sensing performance with outstanding flexibility,functionality,and versatility.Notably,the research on specialty optical fibers is playing a critical role in enabling and proliferating the optical fiber sensing applications.This paper overviews recent developments in specialty optical fibers and their sensing applications.The specialty optical fibers are reviewed based on their innovations in special structures,special materials,and technologies to realize lab in/on a fiber.An overview of sensing applications in various fields is presented.The prospects and emerging research areas of specialty optical fibers are also discussed.

Highly sensitive microfiber ultrasound sensor for photoacoustic imaging

An ultrasound wave is a kind of acoustic signal with a frequency greater than 20 kHz,which is widely used in diverse fields such as medical imaging diagnosis,nondestructive testing and resource exploration.A variety of ultrasound sensors have been developed for ultrasound detection.Particularly for photoacoustic imaging,specialized ultrasound sensors with high sensitivity,small size,and broad bandwidth are needed.However,achieving such sensor perform-ance still poses a great challenge to the current state-of-the-art in ultrasound sensor technology.A recent work pub-lished in Opto-Electronic Advances(DOI:10.29026/oea.2022.200076)proposes a microfiber-based ultrasound sensor that breaks the limitations of existing ultrasound sensors.Benefiting from the large evanescent field characteristic of mi-crofiber,combined with the coherent detection technology,the proposed sensor realized highly sensitive ultrasound de-tection and demonstrated excellent performance in high-resolution photoacoustic imaging.The highly sensitive and mini-aturized microfiber ultrasound sensor provides a competitive alternative for various applications,such as endoscopic photoacoustic imaging of the intestinal tract and blood vessels in animals.

Wearable Alignment‑Free Microfber‑Based Sensor Chip for Precise Vital Signs Monitoring and Cardiovascular Assessment

Continuous pulse wave signals monitoring is the essential basis for clinical cardiovascular diagnosis and treatment.Recent researches show the majority of current electronic pulse sensors usually face challenges in electrical safety concern,poor durability and demanding precision in position alignment.Thus,a highly sensitive,inherently electrical safe,robust and alignment-free device is highly desired.Here,we present a wearable alignment-free microfber-based sensor chip(AFMSC)for precise vital signs monitoring and cardiovascular health assessment.The AFMSC comprises an optical micro/nano fber sensor(MNF)and a fexible soft liquid sac while the MNF sensor is used to perceive the physiological signals and the liquid sac is used to eliminate the misalignment.The real-time and accurate monitoring of the pulse signals was realized by tracking the optical power variation of transmitted light from MNF.Then,the cardiovascular vital signs extracted from radial artery pulse signals were used to evaluate cardiovascular health condition and the results were in accordance with human physiological characteristics.Moreover,the pulse signals from diferent arterial area,the respiration signals from chest and the radial pulse signals before and after exercise were detected and analyzed.The non-invasive,continuous and accurate monitoring of cardiovascular health based on the reported wearable and alignment-free device is promising in both ftness monitoring and medical diagnostics for cardiovascular disease prevention and diagnosis.