title: Label-free biosensing with high sensitivity in dual-core microstructured polymer optical fibers.
abstract: We present experimentally feasible designs of a dual-core microstructured polymer optical fiber (mPOF), which can act as a highly sensitive, label-free, and selective biosensor. An immobilized antigen sensing layer on the walls of the holes in the mPOF provides the ability to selectively capture antibody biomolecules. The change of the layer thickness of biomolecules can then be detected as a change in the coupling length between the two cores. We compare mPOF structures with 1, 2, and 3 air-holes between the solid cores and show that the sensitivity increases with increasing distance between the cores. Numerical calculations indicate a record sensitivity up to 20 nm/nm (defined as the shift in the resonance wavelength per nm biolayer) at visible wavelengths, where the mPOF has low loss.
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, University of Patras, Patra, 26500, Greece. cmarkos@ceid.upatras.gr
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Markos
authors.forename: Wu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Kyriakos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vlachos
authors.forename: Graham E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Town
authors.forename: Ole
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Bang
mesh_terms: D000941:Antigens / Q000737:chemistry*; D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D015233:Models, Statistical; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D055100:Optical Fibers; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D019904:Polymethyl Methacrylate / Q000737:chemistry; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000941:Antigens; D011108:Polymers; D014867:Water; D019904:Polymethyl Methacrylate