title: Driving down the detection limit in microstructured fiber-based chemical dip sensors.
abstract: We present improvements to fluorescence sensing in soft-glass microstructured optical fibers that result in significantly improved sensitivity relative to previously published results. Concentrations of CdSe quantum dots down to 10 pM levels have been demonstrated. We show that the primary limitation to the sensitivity of these systems is the intrinsic fluorescence of the glass itself.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Photonics & Advanced Sensing, School of Chemistry & Physics, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia. erik.schartner@adelaide.edu.au
authors.forename: Erik P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Schartner
authors.forename: Heike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ebendorff-Heidepriem
authors.forename: Stephen C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Warren-Smith
authors.forename: Richard T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: Tanya M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Monro
mesh_terms: D019187:Cadmium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D005453:Fluorescence; D005898:Glass / Q000737:chemistry; D057230:Limit of Detection; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D055100:Optical Fibers; D055620:Optical Phenomena; D045663:Quantum Dots; D018036:Selenium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D019187:Cadmium Compounds; D018036:Selenium Compounds; C058667:cadmium selenide