This unique resource will provide a practical and thorough vision on the most recent trends in plasmonic optical fiber biochemical sensing. This book gathers up-to-date technological information, and shows the maturity reached by the different subsequent technologies to experiment practical implementations. Plasmonic optical biosensors allow label-free and highly sensitive detection of analytes, usually within a dedicated microfluidic system that brings the sample to the biosensor surface. Compared to the bulky Kretschmann prism configuration implemented in most commercial systems, an optical fiber has been developed to improve measurements in a miniaturized system. Demonstrating roadmaps for the design process and practical implementation of plasmonic optical fiber biochemical sensors, this book helps the reader understanding the role of the fiber configuration and the functional coating in the fundamental properties of the derived optrodes. The book bridges the gap between theory and application of plasmonic optical fiber biosensors and highlights their main properties. Understanding these key physical properties is of paramount importance for the efficient design of sensing platforms that will meet the target specifications.
Plasmonic optical biosensors allow label-free and highly sensitive detection of analytes, usually within a dedicated microfluidic system that brings the sample to the biosensor surface. Since the nineties, an optical fiber counterpart to the bulky Kretschmann prism configuration implemented in most commercial systems is investigated and developed to allow in situ measurements with a miniaturized system. Thanks to straightforward light injection and considering the optical fiber geometry, such developments indeed allow remote operation in very small volumes of analytes of the order of 10 µL or even less. The plasmonic optical fiber technology is now mature to such a degree that it becomes to be industrialized. Various configurations comprising unclad/etched multimode optical fibers, D-shaped fibers, U-bent fibers, interferometers, and optical fiber gratings (tilted and long period fiber gratings) were reported. When combined with thin metal films or nanoparticles and functionalized with antibodies, aptamers or other relevant bioreceptors, they show unprecedented performance in terms of sensitivity and limit of detection. Also, the target applications are ever growing, covering biomedical sensing, environmental sensing, and food quality monitoring, among others. This will be a great resource for photonics Engineers and Bioengineers (Industrial engineers and researchers.
