title: Portable fiber sensors based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering.
abstract: Two portable molecular sensing systems based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) have been experimentally demonstrated using either a tip-coated multimode fiber (TCMMF) or a liquid core photonic crystal fiber (LCPCF) as the SERS probe. With Rhodamine 6G as a test molecule, the TCMMF-portable SERS system achieved 2-3 times better sensitivity than direct sampling (focusing the laser light directly into the sample without the fiber probe), and a highly sensitive LCPCF-portable SERS system reached a sensitivity up to 59 times that of direct sampling, comparable to the sensitivity enhancement achieved using fiber probes in the bulky Renishaw system. These fiber SERS probes integrated with a portable Raman spectrometer provide a promising scheme for a compact and flexible molecular sensing system with high sensitivity and portability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA.
authors.forename: Xuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Zuki
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Newhouse
authors.forename: Qiao
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Shaowei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jin Z
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gu
mesh_terms: D002623:Chemistry Techniques, Analytical / Q000295:instrumentation*; D055100:Optical Fibers; D012235:Rhodamines / Q000737:chemistry; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D012235:Rhodamines; C026188:rhodamine 6G