Fiber optic sensing is efficient biotechnology tool
Optical fibers enable not
only the use of optical spectroscopy where conventional spectroscopy cannot be performed,
but also less common methods of interrogation, such as evanescent wave spectroscopy.
The use of fibers in evanescent wave excitation, imaging and sensor arrays, in distributed
sensing, and in microsensors and nanosensors is important in analytical schemes.
Fiber optic sensing is applied to many fields, including medical, chemical and environmental
analysis, and molecular biotechnology.
In a recent review, Otto S. Wolfbeis
of the Institute of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Regensburg in Germany
examined many fiber optic sensors of chemical, biochemical and environmental significance,
including those for gases, vapors, humidity and organic chemicals, and ion sensors
and biosensors. Scientists have reported sensors for several ions as well as for
the detection of toxic nerve and biological warfare agents.
Researchers remain focused on several
areas of development. Hydrogen and methane are of great interest because of their
explosive natures when mixed with air. Sensors for carbon dioxide and ammonia are
temporally unstable and sensitive to ambient gases. Optical sensing of pH remains
a challenge because of cross sensitivity to ionic strength.
The author also reported on applications
of fiber optic sensing, including that of unstable organic compounds, on the monitoring
of pollutants in wastewater, and on trace gases such as methane, acetylene, CO
2,
CO and H
2S. In biotechnology, applications are related to the fabrication of drugs
and protein and to the culture of mammalian cells and engineered tissues.
Wolfbeis noted that, among several
areas of active study, the success of surface plasmon resonance research in the
form of fiber optic sensing is impressive. (ASAP
Analytical Chemistry, online
April 15, 2006.)
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