Multispectral sensing of biological liquids with hollow-core microstructured optical fibres

Timur Ermatov; Roman E Noskov; Andrey A Machnev; Ivan Gnusov; Vsevolod Аtkin; Ekaterina N Lazareva; Sergei V German; Sergey S Kosolobov; Timofei S Zatsepin; Olga V Sergeeva; Julia S Skibina; Pavel Ginzburg; Valery V Tuchin; Pavlos G Lagoudakis; Dmitry A Gorin

doi:10.1038/s41377-020-00410-8

Multispectral sensing of biological liquids with hollow-core microstructured optical fibres

Light Sci Appl. 2020 Oct 10:9:173. doi: 10.1038/s41377-020-00410-8. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Timur Ermatov^#¹, Roman E Noskov^#^{2

3}, Andrey A Machnev^{2

3}, Ivan Gnusov¹, Vsevolod Аtkin⁴, Ekaterina N Lazareva^{4

5}, Sergei V German¹, Sergey S Kosolobov¹, Timofei S Zatsepin^{1

6}, Olga V Sergeeva¹, Julia S Skibina⁷, Pavel Ginzburg^{2

3

8}, Valery V Tuchin^{4

5

9}, Pavlos G Lagoudakis¹, Dmitry A Gorin¹

Affiliations

¹ Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, 3 Nobelya str., Moscow, 121205 Russia.
² Department of Electrical Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, 69978 Israel.
³ Light-Matter Interaction Centre, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, 69978 Israel.
⁴ Saratov State University, 83 Astrakhanskaya str., Saratov, 410012 Russia.
⁵ Tomsk State University, 36 Lenin's av., Tomsk, 634050 Russia.
⁶ M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory, 1-3, Moscow, 119992 Russia.
⁷ SPE LLC Nanostructured Glass Technology, 101 50 Let Oktjabrja, Saratov, 410033 Russia.
⁸ Center for Photonics and 2D Materials, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny, 141700 Russia.
⁹ Institute of Precision Mechanics and Control of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 24 Rabochaya str., Saratov, 410028 Russia.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

The state of the art in optical biosensing is focused on reaching high sensitivity at a single wavelength by using any type of optical resonance. This common strategy, however, disregards the promising possibility of simultaneous measurements of a bioanalyte's refractive index over a broadband spectral domain. Here, we address this issue by introducing the approach of in-fibre multispectral optical sensing (IMOS). The operating principle relies on detecting changes in the transmission of a hollow-core microstructured optical fibre when a bioanalyte is streamed through it via liquid cells. IMOS offers a unique opportunity to measure the refractive index at 42 wavelengths, with a sensitivity up to ~3000 nm per refractive index unit (RIU) and a figure of merit reaching 99 RIU^-1 in the visible and near-infra-red spectral ranges. We apply this technique to determine the concentration and refractive index dispersion for bovine serum albumin and show that the accuracy meets clinical needs.

Keywords: Fibre optics and optical communications; Optical sensors.