title: Fabrication, splicing, Bragg grating writing, and polyelectrolyte functionalization of exposed-core microstructured optical fibers.
abstract: Femtosecond laser written Bragg gratings have been written in exposed-core microstructured optical fibers with core diameters ranging from 2.7 µm to 12.5 µm and can be spliced to conventional single mode fiber. Writing a Bragg grating on an open core fiber allows for real-time refractive index based sensing, with a view to multiplexed biosensing. Smaller core fibers are shown both experimentally and theoretically to provide a higher sensitivity. A 7.5 µm core diameter fiber is shown to provide a good compromise between sensitivity and practicality and was used for monitoring the deposition of polyelectrolyte layers, an important first step in developing a biosensor.
authors.forename: Stephen C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Warren-Smith
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kostecki
authors.forename: Linh Viet
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: Tanya M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Monro
mesh_terms: D004573:Electrolytes / Q000737:chemistry*; D007834:Lasers; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D055100:Optical Fibers; D055620:Optical Phenomena; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D012031:Refractometry; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D004573:Electrolytes; D011108:Polymers