title: Photonic crystal fibres for chemical sensing and photochemistry.
abstract: In this review, we introduce photonic crystal fibre as a novel optofluidic microdevice that can be employed as both a versatile chemical sensor and a highly efficient microreactor. We demonstrate that it provides an excellent platform in which light and chemical samples can strongly interact for quantitative spectroscopic analysis or photoactivation purposes. The use of photonic crystal fibre in photochemistry and sensing is discussed and recent results on gas and liquid sensing as well as on photochemical and catalytic reactions are reviewed. These developments demonstrate that the tight light confinement, enhanced light-matter interaction and reduced sample volume offered by photonic crystal fibre make it useful in a wide range of chemical applications.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Guenther-Scharowsky-Str. 1/Bldg. 24, 91058 Erlangen, Germany. philip.russell@mpl.mpg.de.
authors.forename: Ana M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Cubillas
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Unterkofler
authors.forename: Tijmen G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Euser
authors.forename: Bastian J M
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Etzold
authors.forename: Anita C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Sadler
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wasserscheid
authors.forename: Philip St J
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Russell