Femtosecond laser micromachining of compound parabolic concentrator fiber tipped glucose sensors

J Biomed Opt. 2017 Mar 1;22(3):37003. doi: 10.1117/1.JBO.22.3.037003.

Abstract

We report on highly accurate femtosecond (fs) laser micromachining of a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) fiber tip on a polymer optical fiber (POF). The accuracy is reflected in an unprecedented correspondence between the numerically predicted and experimentally found improvement in fluorescence pickup efficiency of a Förster resonance energy transfer-based POF glucose sensor. A Zemax model of the CPC-tipped sensor predicts an optimal improvement of a factor of 3.96 compared to the sensor with a plane-cut fiber tip. The fs laser micromachined CPC tip showed an increase of a factor of 3.5, which is only 11.6% from the predicted value. Earlier state-of-the-art fabrication of the CPC-shaped tip by fiber tapering was of so poor quality that the actual improvement was 43% lower than the predicted improvement of the ideal CPC shape.

MeSH terms

  • Blood Chemical Analysis / instrumentation*
  • Blood Chemical Analysis / methods*
  • Blood Glucose / analysis*
  • Lasers
  • Microtechnology*
  • Optical Fibers*

Substances

  • Blood Glucose