Development of an evanescent wave-based optical microfiber platform for label-free sensing applications

Abstract

Despite the advantages of optical microfiber for sensing applications, its potential use of for real applications is often undervalued owing to its fragile characteristic that requires delicate handling and the bulky and costly optical setup. The work presented in this thesis aims to bridge this research gap by developing a miniaturized optical microfiber-based sensor device that also serves as an economical alternative to conventional lab-based test equipment without compromising the detection sensitivity. This thesis focuses on the fabrication of a compact handheld sensor device using surface-functionalized optical microfiber for water contaminant and gas sensing applications. Due to the versatile chemical surface modification of the optical microfiber and the compact interrogator design to ease the translation into a portable device, this work has made a huge improvement and given rise to a new trend in the field of optical fiber-based chemical sensing.