Study of fiber-optic sensing systems based on the laboratory-on-a-fiber concept

该项目的主要研究目标是继续基于光纤实验室（LOF）概念的新型光纤传感装置的基础研究，该装置可用于安全和安保或环境监测，作为危险物质的远程探测器。这些器件将基于光子晶体光纤（pcf）、标准光纤和各种功能化涂层，并将用于重金属和细菌的光子传感应用。

The principal research objective of this program is to continue fundamental studies of novel fiber-optic sensing devices based on the lab-on-a-fiber (LOF) concept, which could be used in safety and security or environmental monitoring as remote detectors of dangerous substances. These devices will be based on photonic crystal fibers (PCFs), on standard fibers and on a variety of functionalized coatings, and will be used for applications in photonic sensing of heavy metals and bacteria. The research plan includes specific short-term and long-term objectives. At the sensing device level, studies and development of a next generation of fiber-optic sensors based on standard fibers and on PCFs will be undertaken to develop an entirely new class of devices with programmable properties. These devices will be specifically designed using a variety of approaches, involving evanescent wave probes and long-period gratings, in combination with few-mode and multimode interferometry. A practical objective is to selectively design and optimize the transmission, polarization, and light collection properties of these devices through appropriate microstructural modeling, and then to fabricate them through appropriate technological processes. A second objective is to subsequently equip these devices with a variety of functionalized coatings, in order to induce effects allowing for detection of selected targets. For the detection of heavy metal ions in water, fluorescent turn-on molecular probes will be used, while for cyanobacteria presence detection in water we plan to use biophages; both types of sensory materials will be integrated with the optical fibers. Consequently, we expect to design and manufacture fiber sensors with superior metrological properties, including selectively enhanced sensitivity to a chosen target and negligible false positive ratio. Due to the flexible properties of the new sensors and the processing functionality of our LOF system approach they will be compatible with many specific sensor configurations.