This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 8938, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Invited Panel Discussion, and Conference Committee listing.

Ultrasound imaging is frequently used for guiding needles during minimally invasive procedures, but accurate identification of the needle tips can be challenging, even for experienced practitioners. In this study, a novel method for tracking needles inside the human body was developed. This method, called ultrasonic device tracking (UDT), involved the detection of ultrasound pulses from the external imaging probe with an optical fibre hydrophone integrated into the needle cannula. Two methods for estimating the needle tip position that were based on the maximum and the centroid of the optical fibre hydrophone signal were tested. The variability of the position estimates is measured at different distances to the electronic focus. The maximum longitudinal variability was less than 80 μm for all distances. The lateral variability remains below 500 μm in a 20 mm region around the focus, but increases up to several mm away from the electronic focus. In the close proximity of the electronic focus, the lateral and longitudinal variability lower down to 22 μm and less. This study suggests that UDT allows for safer and more efficient procedures in a manner that is compatible with the current clinical workflow.

Fiber Evanescent Wave Spectroscopy (FEWS) is an efficient way to collect optical spectra in situ, in real time and even, hopefully, in vivo. Thanks to selenide glass fibers, it is possible to get such spectra over the whole mid-infrared range from 2 to 12 μm. This working window gives access to the fundamental vibration band of most of biological molecules. Moreover selenide glasses are stable and easy to handle, and it is possible to shape the fiber and create a tapered sensing head to drastically increase the sensitivity. Within the past decades, numerous multi-disciplinary studies have been conducted in collaboration with the City Hospital of Rennes. Clinical trials have provided very promising results in biology and medicine which have led to the creation in 2011 of the DIAFIR Company dedicated to the commercialization of fiber-based infrared biosensors. In addition, new glasses based on tellurium only have been recently developed, initially in the framework of the Darwin mission led by the European Space Agency (ESA). These glasses transmit light further into the far-infrared and could also be very useful for medical applications in the near future. Indeed, they permit to reach the vibrational bands of biomolecules laying from 12 to 16 μm where selenide glasses do not transmit light anymore. However, while Se is a very good glass former, telluride glasses tend to crystallize easily due to the metallic nature of Te bonds. Hence, further work is under way to stabilize the glass composition for fibers drawing and to lower the optical losses for improving their sensitivity as bio-sensors.

Optical fibers and terminations were subjected to different sterilization techniques, including multiple autoclaving and treatments with peracetic acid, E-beam and UV radiation. Effects of different sterilization techniques on key optical and mechanical properties of the fibers and the terminations were revealed. The primary attention was given to behavior of the coatings on the fibers and adhesives used in the terminations in harsh sterilization environments. The optical fibers with following four coating/buffer types were investigated: (i) dual acrylate, (ii) polyimide, (iii) silicone/PEEK and (iv) fluoroacrylate hard cladding/ETFE.

Extremely flexible hollow fibers with 50 μm-bore size were developed for infrared laser light delivery. The hollow fiber was inner coated with silver and a dielectric layer to enhance the reflection rate at an objective wavelength band. The silver layer was inner-plated by using the conventional silver mirror-plating technique. Concerning the fabrication parameters used up to now for 320-μm bore-sized fibers, the target flowing rate for plating solutions was 10 ml/min. Parallelly arranged bundles of silica capillary were used to increase the cross-sectional area. To achieve the target, bundles with 4800 pieces were used for the capillary with a length of 20 cm and inner diameters of 50 μm. The loss for the 50 μm bore size, 10 cm length silver hollow fiber was 6 dB at the wavelength of 1 μm. Thin dielectric layer was formed by using liquid-phase coating method for low-loss transmission of Nd:YAG and Er:YAG laser light.

Microbial biofilm is a colony of single bacteria cells (planktonic) that attached to surfaces, attract other microorganisms to attach and grow, and together they build an extracellular matrix composed of polysaccharides, protein, and DNA. Eventually, some cells will detach and spread to other surface. Biofilm on medical devices can cause severe infection to all age ranges from infant to adult. Therefore, it is important to detect biofilm in a fast and efficient manner. Hyperspectral imaging was utilized for distinguishing wide area of biofilm coverage on various materials and on different textures of stainless steeltest coupons. Not only is the coverage of biofilm important, but also the shear stress of biofilm on the attached surfaces is significant. This study investigates the effects of shear stress on the adhesion of biofilms on common medical device surfaces such as glass, polycarbonate, polytetrafluoroethylene, and stainless steel with different textures. Biofilm was grown using Ps. aeruginosa and growth was monitored after 24 and 48 hours at 37° C. The coupons covered with biofilm were tilted at 45 degrees and 90 degrees for 30 seconds to induce shear stress and Hyperspectral images were taken. We hypothesize that stronger attachment on rough surface would be able to withstand greater shear stress compared to smooth surface.

An effort to reduce UV-induced defect centers and improve the UV solarization resistance in a high –OH synthetic fused silica step index multimode optical fiber, designated as FDP, was successfully completed at Polymicro Technologies. The development achieved significant reduction in the 214 and 265nm absorption bands typically associated with solarization effects in fused silica. The improvements were applied to fiber core diameters from 68 to 600μm. Characterization of the solarization resistance was performed with added attenuation from UV exposure demonstrated to be less than 1dB per two meters tested for all fibers in the core size range. Results of spectral performance and UV degradation are presented along with a description of the test protocols. Potential applications in the medical and spectroscopy fields also will be discussed.

A fiber-optic probe for optical coherence tomography (OCT) applications typically includes a short section of graded index (GRIN) fiber fused onto a single-mode (SM) fiber. The GRIN fiber acts as a lens to focus the output of the SM fiber and to collect the reflected light from the sample. In this paper we will use the beam propagation method (BPM) to analyze the output beam characteristics such as beam radius and working distance, and then compare these with the measured results. With this tool we can design a GRIN fiber lens to achieve a long working distance without degrading the system performance.

Fiber optic components for lighting and imaging applications have been in use for decades. Recent requirements such as a need for RoHS compliance, attractive market pricing, or particular optical properties, such as numerical aperture (NA) or transmission, have required SCHOTT to develop and implement new glasses for these applications. From Puravis™ lead-free fibers for lighting applications, to new glasses for digital X-ray imaging and sensor applications, the challenges for SCHOTT scientists are considerable. Pertinent properties of these glasses and methods of determination for suitability will be discussed.

Improved multimode UV-fibers with core diameters ranging from 70 to 600 μm diameter have been manufactured based on novel preform modifications and fiber processing techniques. Only E’-centers at 214 nm and NBOHC at 260 nm are generated in these fibers. A new generation of inexpensive laser-systems have entered the market and generated a multitude of new and attractive applications in the bio-life science, chemical and material processing field. However, for example pulsed 355 nm Nd:YAG lasers generate significant UV-damages in commercially available fibers. For lower wavelengths, no results on suitable multi-mode or low-mode fibers with high UV resistance at 266 nm wavelength (pulsed 4^th harmonic Nd:YAG laser) have been published. In this report, double-clad fibers with 70 μm or 100 μm core diameter and a large claddingto- core ratio will be recommended. Laser-induced UV-damages will be compared between these new fiber type and traditional UV fibers with similar core sizes. Finally, experimental results will be cross compared against broadband cw deuterium lamp damage standards.

In this paper we report on the development of a complete integrated optical fiber assembly suitable for shape sensing. Our shape sensor module consists of a length (>1m) of twisted multicore optical fiber with fiber Bragg gratings inscribed along its length. Our fiber has a compact 180 micron coated diameter, a twist of 50 turns per meter and grating reflectivities greater than 0.01% per cm of array, suitable for high efficiency scatter measurements over many meters of fiber. Single core to multicore fanouts and low reflectivity fiber termination are used to terminate the end of the array.

Significant research exists regarding the successful implementation of hollow waveguides for the low-loss transmission of infrared radiation in applications ranging from laser power delivery to spectroscopy. With the continued development of terahertz (THz) technologies and applications, it is often advantageous to have a waveguide for the transmission of THz radiation. This study focuses on the fabrication of novel silver-coated polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) waveguides for the transmission of terahertz radiation. The hollow structure described in this paper is made by depositing a thin film of Ag on the outer surface of a dielectric tube. This is in contrast to depositing metallic and dielectric thin film coatings on the inner surface of capillary tubing as is commonly done for IR and some THz transmissive waveguides. In this work, the Teflon tubing itself is the dielectric layer that is used to enhance the reflectivity of the Ag. Theoretical loss calculations will be presented and compared to the loss obtained for the guides measured at THz frequencies. In addition the spectra of the guides in the infrared region are also measured as a means to study the uniformity of the Teflon “layer” and to confirm the wall thickness of the Teflon tubing. The surface topography of the silver / PTFE waveguides is obtained and the resulting surface roughness related scattering losses are calculated. The implications of the terahertz fiber for applications ranging from nondestructive evaluation (NDE), security, and medical imaging are briefly discussed.

We present a multi-channel spectrometer that allows simultaneous acquisition of up to eight channels in order to perform parallel optical coherence tomography or low coherence interferometry. The rigid and compact design is employed in polarization sensitive optical coherence tomography measurements. Furthermore it is employed in distances and wedgeangle measurements between two glass slides. The spectrometer operates at a central wavelength of 835 nm and at a spectral bandwidth of 45 nm. This facilitates an axial resolution of 7.7 μm. The key feature is the simultaneous acquisition of up to eight channels, at a maximum frame rate of 6.5 kHz. The sensitivity is 91 dB at an integration time of 11 μs and an optical power of 0.7 mW at each of the sample arms. We obtained polarization sensitive OCT images of technical and biological samples and investigated the system inherent phase stability to multipoint low coherence interferometry measurements.

The studies on microstructured optical fibers (MOF) have drawn considerable interest and played an important role in many applications. MOFs provide unique optical properties and controllable modal properties because of their flexibilities on manipulation of the transmission spectrum and the waveguide dispersion properties. MOFs are especially useful for optical sensing applications because the micro-structured air channels in MOF can host various types of analytes such as liquids, gases, and chemical molecules. Recently, many studies have focused on the development of MOF-based optical sensors for various gases and chemical molecules. We propose a compact, and highly sensitive optical micro-cavity chemical sensor using microstructured fiber. The sensor probe is composed of a hollow optical fiber and end cleaved microstructured fiber with a solid core. The interference spectrum resulting from the reflected light at the silica and air interfaces changes when the micro-cavity is infiltrated with external chemical molecules. This structure enables the direct detection of chemical molecules such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) without the introduction of any permeable material.

Attenuated total reflectance (ATR) infrared hollow waveguide attracts particular interest since it has both advantages of a hollow fiber and a light guiding mechanism similar to that of solid-core fibers. Presently, ATR hollow waveguides are mainly structured with single-crystal sapphire or glassy materials. These waveguides are somewhat brittle. More robust ATR hollow fibers are required in many military and domestic applications. In this work, ATR GeO₂ hollow waveguides were prepared based on a copper capillary tube for transmitting CO₂ laser light. The inner wall of the copper structural tube was polished using a high-pressure pulsed nanofluid technique. A hexagonal crystalline GeO₂ reflective layer with sufficient thickness (>4 μm) was grown on the inner tube wall via a simple liquid phase deposition process at room temperature. The GeO₂ coated copper hollow fiber exhibits a low-loss band within 10-11.5 μm. It can still be bent since the hollow-core size (1.4 mm) and the wall thickness (50 μm) are not too large. The transmissions of CO₂ laser light are 91% and 43% under a straight condition and a 90° bend with a 30-cm radius condition, respectively. The waveguide displays high heat-resisting properties due to high thermal conductivity of the copper substrate tube and a high melting point (1115°C) of the GeO₂ reflective layer. This work opens a door for low-temperature, low-cost growth of long ATR GeO₂ infrared hollow fibers based on various substrate tubes, even including plastic capillary tubes.

Optical fiber spectroscopy is a versatile tool for measuring diffuse reflectance and extracting absorption information that can noninvasively quantify the presence of chromophores such as oxyhemoglobin and deoxy-hemoglobin in tissues. Cerebrovascular abnormalities were widely recognized in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients. We analyzed blood volume fraction and level of oxygenated hemoglobin in Tg6799 mice, which are transgenic mice expressing five different familial Alzheimer disease-associated mutations in the human amyloid precursor protein and presenilin-1 genes. Diffuse reflectance spectra were iteratively fit as weighted sums of oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin. Our observations showed slightly hypoxic conditions and significantly increased blood volume in the Alzheimer’s mice versus wild type. These results suggest that hyperperfusion of our AD mice may be a compensating mechanism for impaired cerebral vascular function and somehow relevant with early stage of AD patients. Ongoing work focuses on developing a cannula fixture that allows measurement in awake, behaving animals.

Several therapies make use of a hypo or hyperthermia tissue environment to induce cell death in both benign and malignant tumors. Current progression in optical technologies, such as optical coherence tomography (OCT) and fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) sensors, could potentially provide viable information to explore the response of tissue when these temperature induced treatments are implemented. Studies were conducted with tissue-mimicking phantoms fabricated with polystyrene microspheres and glycerin to observe any relationship between the pixel intensities of the OCT images and their concurring envelope statistics. OCT images of the monitored region of interest were taken at 5°C intervals from 25°C to 60°C. Four probability distribution functions (PDF), Rician, Rayleigh, Normal and Generalized Gamma were used to investigate OCT envelope statistics as the temperature was altered. Using the Kolmogrov-Smirnov goodness of fit test, it was determined that the Generalized Gamma was the best fit. The scaling and shape parameters associated with the Generalized Gamma PDF were used to quantify the OCT envelope data to identify temperature changes within the tissue mimicking media. The Generalized Gamma PDF was verified as the best fit based on the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) test correlation factor being less than 0.05 (p = 0.0158). In addition to the PDFs, the OCT speckle decorrelation at varying temperature were also measured and quantified to detect the microspheres response to temperature changes. Initial results are very promising with future research focused on extending this methodology to monitor relative temperature changes in tissue during therapy. Clinical utility can be achieved if these optical techniques are used to evaluate the temperature-derived biological response of tissue and provide a feedback mechanism to improve procedural efficiency.

The ability to quantitatively and noninvasively detect nanoparticles in vivo has important implications on their development as optical sensors for medical diagnostics. We suggest a new method for cancer detection based on diffusion reflection (DR) measurements of gold nanorods (GNR). In our talk, the ability to extract optical properties of phantoms and their GNR concentrations from DR measurements will demonstrate. We will report, for the first time, GNR detection through upper tissue-like phantom layers, as well as the detection of a tumor presented as highly concentrated GNR placed deep within a phantom.

Bio-functionalization of inner surfaces of all silica Hollow Core–Photonic Crystal Fibers (HC-PCF) has been investigated. The approach is based on layer-by-layer self-assembly Peptide Nucleic Acid (PNA) probes, which is an oligonucleotide mimic that is well suited for specific DNA target recognition. Two kinds of HC-PCFs have been considered: a photonic Bragg fiber and a hollow core (HC-1060) fiber. After spectral characterization and internal surface functionalization by using PNA probes, genomic DNA solutions from soy flour were infiltrated into the fibers. The experimental results indicate that hybridization of the complementary strand of target DNA increases the thickness of the silica layer and leads up to the generation of surface modes, resulting in a significant modulation of the transmission spectra. Numerical analysis confirms such behavior, suggesting the possibility to realize biological sensing.

Pressure reliefs are recommended to wheelchair bound individuals to control and minimize skin damage. To this date recommendation on duration and intervals between pressure reliefs is not clear. Recent studies have shown a relationship between reduction in tissue perfusion and oxygenation due to pressure and skin pathophysiologic changes. We have developed a fiber-optics probe that allows measurement of oxygenation in addition to perfusion in real time; this low profile probe can be utilized while sitting and during pressure reliefs. We have conducted a clinical trial at the National Rehabilitation Hospital on individual with spinal cord injury. The overriding goal of this project was to develop the evidence base for clinical recommendations on pressure reliefs. Results of the study will be presented.

Chalcogenide glasses are promising materials for mid-infrared (IR) fiber lasers (i.e. 3 - 25 μm wavelength range). These glasses exhibit low phonon energies, together with large refractive indices, rare earth (RE-) ion solubility and sufficient mechanical and chemical robustness. Optical quality of the fiber is key. Gallium is known to promote RE-ion solubility in chalcogenide glasses, probably forming a [Pr^(III)] - Se - [Ga^(III)] associated type complex. Here, indium is investigated as an alternative additive to gallium in Pr³⁺-doped Ge-As-Se chalcogenide glasses. Indium has the same outer electronic structure as gallium. Moreover, indium has the advantage of being heavier than gallium, potentially promoting a lower phonon-energy, local environment of the RE-dopant. Zero to ~2000 ppmw (nominal parts per million by weight) Pr³⁺- doped Ge-As-In-Se bulk glasses are prepared using the melt-quench method. ~500 ppmw Pr³⁺- doped Ge-As-In-Se, optically-clad fiber is realized via fiber-drawing of extruded fiberoptic preforms. Fiber absorption and emission spectra are collected and compared with those of the bulk glasses.

In the 21st century, cancer has become a common and feared illness. Early detection is crucial for delivering the most effective treatment of patients, yet current diagnostic tests depend upon the skill of a consultant clinician and histologist for recognition of the cancerous cells. Therefore it is necessary to develop a medical diagnostic system which can analyze and image tissue instantly, removing the margin of human error and with the additional benefit of being minimally invasive. The molecular fingerprint of biological tissue lies within the mid-infrared (IR) region of the electromagnetic spectrum, 3-25μm wavelength. This can be used to determine a tissue spectral map and provide information about the absence or existence of disease, potentially in real-time and in vivo. However, current mid-IR broadband sources are not bright enough to achieve this. One alternative is to develop broadband, mid-IR, supercontinuum generation (SCG). Chalcogenide glass optical fibers have the potential to provide such mid-IR SC light. A popular chalcogenide glass fiber type is based on Ge-As-Se. For biomedical applications it is prudent to avoid the use of arsenic, on account of its toxicity. This paper investigates replacing arsenic with antimony, towards Ge-Sb-Se smallcore optical fibers for SCG. Physical properties of candidate glass pairs are investigated for glass stability via differential thermal analysis etc. and fiber optical loss measurements of associated fibers are assessed. These results are compared to analogous arsenic-containing chalcogenide glasses and optical fibers, and conclusions are drawn focusing on whether there is potential for antimony chalcogenide glass to be used for SCG for mid-infrared medical diagnostics.

Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) scattering offers significant advantages compared to traditional reflectivity measure- ments, essentially turning a non-radiative process into a radiative one. Recently, we have shown that SPR scattering can be used in an optical fiber, enabling higher signal to noise ratio, reduced dependence on the metallic thickness as well as the unique capability of multiplexed detection with a single fiber. Here we report a novel SPR scattering based sensor fabricated based on an exposed-core silica Microstructured Optical Fiber (MOF). This MOF presents a structure with a relatively small core (Ø = 10µm), exposed along the whole fiber length. This exposed core MOF allows for fabrication of SPR supporting metallic thin films directly onto the fiber core offering the new prospect of exploiting SPR in a waveguide structure that supports only a relatively small number of guided optical modes, with a structure that offers ease of fabri- cation and handling. A thin silver film of 50 nm thickness was deposited onto the fiber core by thermal evaporation. The significant surface roughness of the prepared metallic coatings facilitates strong scattering of the light wave coupled into the surface plasmon. Performance characteristics of the new exposed core fiber sensor were compared to those of a large bare core silica fiber (Ø = 140µm). Although sensitivity of both sensors was comparable (around 2500nm/RIU ), full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the SPR peaks for the new exposed core fiber sensor decreased by a factor of 3 offering an significant enhancement in the detection limit of the new sensing platform in addition to the prospect of a sensor with a lower detection volume.

A flexible fiber probe for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) was fabricated by forming gold nanostructures on a ball lens mounted at the distal end of a hollow optical fiber. Two different methods were used to form the gold nanoparticles. In the photochemical deposition, easily fabricated probe indicated good sensitivity, but low reproducibility. On the other hand, in the sputtering method, higher intensity was achieved constantly because an optimal forming condition can be strictly controlled. The measurement of biological molecules using fabricated SERS active probe is also demonstrated.

Coherent fiber bundles with high core density give both flexibility and high resolution to microscopy. Despite of these advantages, fiber bundles inevitably have uncovered region between adjacent cores. The region results in structural artifact known as pixelation effect. Many kinds of image processing techniques have been introduced to remove this pixelation artifact such as frequency domain filter and Gaussian filter. However, these methods fundamentally have limitation because they use the information of adjacent pixels to make up for these uncovered area; therefore, they cannot avoid blurring effect as a result. To overcome this problem, we introduce spatial compound imaging method to overcome this pixelation artifact. The method uses multiple frames taken with small deviation of position. Some parts of these images include information which is devoid of in other images. The total amount of information increase as more images are added up and we can expect the improvement of resolution in the final images. At the same time, the duplicated parts among these images can be averaged to improve SNR ratio. For these improvements, we essentially need sophisticated registration algorithm. The pixelation artifact is troublesome again in registration process because its structural artifacts are strong features shared with whole images. However, we can solve this problem by using reference image and divide the sample images into two parts: effective and ineffective regions. We used effective regions for registration. We used USAF target to evaluate our method and we could get a result that SNR and resolution are both critically increase.

A micro sized implantable ball lens-based fiber optic probe design is described for continuous monitoring of brain activity in freely behaving mice. A prototype uses a 500-micron ball lens and a highly flexible 350-micron-diameter fiber bundle, which are enclosed by a 21G stainless steel sheath. Several types and thickness of brain tissue, consisting of fluorescent probes such as GFP, GCaMP3 calcium indicator, are used to evaluate the performance of the imaging probe. Measured working distance is approximately 400-μm, but is long enough to detect neural activities from cortical and cerebellar tissues of mice brain.

Even the most stable hands have unintended movements on the order of 50-100 microns within 0-15 Hz. Micro-forceps are one of the frequently used microsurgical tools used to grasp thin layers of tissue during microsurgery. Here, a handheld Smart Micromanipulation Aided Robotic-surgery Tool (SMART) micro-forceps is developed by integrating a fiber-optic common-path optical coherence tomography (CP-OCT) sensor into the micro-forceps. This forceps design could significantly improve performance by canceling unwanted hand tremor during the moment of a grasping. The basic grasping and peeling functions of the micro-forceps are evaluated in dry phantoms and in a biological tissue model.

We report U-shaped biconically tapered optical fibers (BTOF) as dip 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 0.5, 5.0, and 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. The limit of detection for the sensor was estimated to be less than 0.5 μg/mL with low temperature sensitivity. Utilization of the rate of the sensor peak shift within the first few minutes of antibody-antigen reaction is proposed as a rapid detection method.

Our Raman probe that is called as ball-lens hollow fiber Raman probe (BHRP) had been proved possessing capability to detect the biochemical alteration within biological tissue. Whether BHRP has high capability and sensitivity in diagnosing the biochemical changing of tissue or not, mouse's normal rectal and anorectal prolapse (AP) were decided to be used as a model for this non invasive method. This AP is azoxymethane and DSS-induced mouse’s anorectal prolapse. Main outcome of BHRP will be potential for non-invasive method in tumor diagnosing. BHRP spectra obtained were a high quality and allowed analysis of their differences between normal rectal (control group) and AP. After spectral acquisition and comparison with corresponding images of hematoxylin/eosinstained section observation used to make the histopathologic diagnosing, BHRP detected some differences within the region of moiety of DNA, protein (i.e. collagen) and lipid, then following with the alteration of symmetric P=O stretching vibration compared with the normal rectal tissue. BHRP discriminate normal tissue and AP in the real-time.

Chalcogenide glasses are known for their transparency in the infrared optical range and their ability to be drawn as fibers. Such optical fibers can transmit light from 2 to 20 μm depending on the composition of the glass constituting the fiber. They are consequently good candidates to be used in biological/chemical sensing. Different types of fiber can be used: single index fibers or microstructured fibers. Besides, a new configuration of microstructured fibers has been developed: microstructured exposed-core fibers. This design consists of an optical fiber with a suspended micron-scale core that is partially exposed to the external environment.

The current study relates to a Raman spectroscopy-based method for addressing the problem of sex assessment in mammals. A direct method for sex predetermination in animals is based on the X- and Y-bearing sperm cells sorting before insemination. Our Raman spectroscope allows distinguishing and characterizing the difference between X- and Y-bearing sperm cells by detecting and analyzing their Raman spectra in a non-invasive and non-destructive way.

A tube-leaky fiber that consists of only dielectric thin-film tubing for delivery of Er:YAG laser light is presented. The tube-leaky fiber confines light in the airy core when the film thickness is properly chosen for target wavelength. Transmission properties of the fibers are derived by using a ray optic method and designed the optimum wall thickness for the Er:YAG laser wavelength of 2.94 micron. In fabrication of the tube leaky fiber, we use a microstructural tube made of glass to enhance mechanical strength. The central bore and surrounding glass thin layer that is held by the microstructure function as a tube-leaky fiber. We fabricate a large-core fiber for delivery of high-power medical lasers by stack-and-draw method and we use borosilicate-glass as a fiber material for low cost fabrication. Fabricated fibers have a diameter over 400 μm and from the loss measurements for Er:YAG laser, and the fibers deliver laser light with a transmission loss of 0.85 dB/m that is comparable to 0.7 dB/m of conventional hollow-optical fibers. The fibers withstand transmission of laser pulses with energy higher than 120 mJ. We confirm that these energies are enough to ablate biological tissues in surgical operations.

We have presented full-field optical coherence tomography(FF-OCT) system implemented with fiber optics. Usually FFOCT system illuminates large area at once while conventional OCT system irradiates light at single focal point. From these reason, light guidance with single fiber waveguide is not proper in FF-OCT system and fiber-optic components is not dealt in the system implementation. In this paper, we demonstrate FF-OCT system implemented with fiber-optics, where fiber coupler and fiber-optic circulator were used to perform the function of beam splitting and optical delay line. Each arm of fiber coupler acts as reference arm and sample arm. Fiber-optic collimator and metal-coated mirror mounted on translator in the reference arm could adjust optical path length properly. Separated beam after the fiber coupler was combined after bulk beam combiner, where beam size at fiber end is expanded by large fiber-optic collimator and then illuminated to sample. The larger size beam reflected from sample was interfered with reference beam, which experienced optical delay in the reference arm. The utilization of fiber-optic components could provide merits such as easiness in optical alignment and reduction of sensitiveness to external vibration and perturbation.

A compact, fiber-based spectrometer for biomedical application utilizing a tilted fiber Bragg grating (TFBG) as integrated dispersive element is demonstrated. Based on a 45° UV-written PS750 TFBG a refractive spectrometer with 2.06 radiant/μm dispersion and a numerical aperture of 0.1 was set up and tested as integrated detector for an optical coherence tomography (OCT) system. Featuring a 23 mm long active region at the fiber the spectrum is projected via a cylindrical lens for vertical beam collimation and focused by an achromatic doublet onto the detector array. Covering 740 nm to 860 nm the spectrometer was optically connected to a broadband white light interferometer and a wide field scan head and electronically to an acquisition and control computer. Tomograms of ophthalmic and dermal samples obtained by the frequency domain OCT-system were obtained achieving 2.84 μm axial and 7.6 μm lateral resolution.

Sensing pH in blood with an silica multimode optical fiber. This sensor is based on evanescent wave absorption and measures the change of the refractive index and absorption in a cladding made of a biocompatible Polymer. In contrast to many existing fiber optical sensors which are based upon different dyes or florescent material to sense the pH, here presents a solution where a part of the cladding is replaced with a Poly (β-amino ester) made of 1.4-Butanediol diacrylate, Piperazine, and Trimethylolpropane Triacrylate. Piperazine has the feature of changing its volume by swelling or shrinking in response to the pH level. This paper utilizes this dimension effect and measure the refractive index and the absorption of the cladding in respect to different pH-levels. The alteration of refractive index also causes a change in the absorption and therefore the output power changes as a function of the pH level. The sensor is sensitive to pH in a wide spectral range and light absorbency can be observed for wavelengths ranging from UV to far IR.

Molecular delivery based on nanosecond pulsed laser-induced photomechanical waves (PMWs) enables endoscopic application by using an optical fiber for laser transmission. In our previous fiber system, a laser target, which was a black natural rubber film as a laser absorbing material covered with an optically transparent polyethylene terephthalate disk to confine the laser-induced plasma, was attached to the output end of a 1 mm core diameter quartz fiber. There were two problems in that system: 1) the outer diameter was large (~2.7 mm) and 2) available peak pressure rapidly decreased with increasing pulse number. In this study, we developed a new fiber delivery system to overcome these problems. As a laser absorbing material, we used a cap-type silicone rubber containing carbon black, into which the fiber output end can simply be inserted. The fiber end surface works to confine the laser-induced plasma. The outer diameter of the fiber system was reduced to ~1.4 mm. At an output laser fluence of 1.2 J/cm², peak pressure of the first PMW pulse exceeded ~40 MPa. With successive 10 laser pulses, decreasing rate of the peak pressure was 22%, which was considerably lower than that with the previous fiber system (82%), enabling generation of at least successive 30 pulses of PMW with the same cap-type target. With this fiber system, we attempted transfer of plasmid DNA encoding EGFP (enhanced green fluorescence protein) to the rat skin as a test tissue in vivo, showing site-selective efficient gene expression.

The measurement of refractive index (RI) is an important tool for label free biosensing in biomedical applications [1,2]. In this work, a LPG based fiber optic interferometric probe is used for thrombin detection. The aptamer raised against the thrombin was immobilized through an electrostatic immobilization method, using poly-L-lysine as cationic polymer. The functionalized probe was characterized and tested against thrombin. The system was validated with the detection of thrombin using an aptamer based probe (5’-[amine]GGTTGGTGTGGTTGG-3’) as a model system for protein detection. The shift corresponding to the affinity-assay between TBA and the thrombin was of about 56 pm. A differential readout interferometer based on a white light Mach-Zehnder configuration, with pseudo-heterodyne phase modulation is described. The system can be used to interrogate two similar LPGs based interferometers in a differential scheme. Considering the configuration where both devices are functionalized being one active (sensor) and the other one passive (reference) it is possible to accurately measure the behavior of the analyte of interest independent of non-specific binding events, bulk refractive index changes and temperature. Signal processing with low cost digital instrumentation developed in Labview environment allows a detectable change in refractive index of Δn ≈ 2x10^-6 [3]. Coupling the sensing probe together with a passively functionalized reference probe in a differential system will enable pseudo-heterodyne interrogation and extremely sensitive phase detection of biological species.