Optofluidics, Sensors and Actuators in Microstructured Optical Fibers

Combining the positive characteristics of microfluidics and optics, microstructured optical fibres (MOFs) have revolutionized the field of optoelectronics. Tailored guiding, diffractive structures and photonic band-gap effects are used to produce fibres with highly specialised, complex structures, facilitating the development of novel kinds of optical fibre sensors and actuators.

Part One outlines the key materials and fabrication techniques used for microstructured optical fibres. Microfluidics and heat flows, MOF-based metamaterials, novel and liquid crystal infiltrated photonic crystal fibre (PCF) designs, MOFs filled with carbon nanotubes and melting of functional inorganic glasses inside PCFs are all reviewed. Part Two then goes on to investigate sensing and optofluidic applications, with the use of MOFs in structural sensing, sensing units and mechanical sensing explored in detail. PCF’s for switching applications are then discussed before the book concludes by reviewing MOFs for specific nucleic acid detection and resonant bio- and chemical sensing.

• Provides users with the necessary knowledge to successfully design and implement microstructured optical fibres for a broad range of uses
• Outlines techniques for developing both traditional and novel types of optical fibre
• Highlights the adaptability of microstructured optical fibres achieved via the use of optofluidics, sensors and actuators, by presenting a diverse selection of applications

Postgraduate students and academic researchers in electronics, optics, photonics, sensors, physics, material science and engineering, as well as R&D managers in such industrial sectors as industrial process monitoring, structural health monitoring and environmental monitoring

• Related titles
• List of contributors
• Woodhead Publishing Series in Electronic and Optical Materials
• Preface
• Part One. Materials and fabrication of microstructured optical fibres
  • 1. Microfluidics flow and heat transfer in microstructured fibers of circular and elliptical geometry
    • 1.1. Introduction
    • 1.2. Governing equations of flows along a microchannel
    • 1.3. Numerical results
    • 1.4. Conclusions
  • 2. Drawn metamaterials
    • 2.1. Introduction
    • 2.2. Fibre-based metamaterials
    • 2.3. Drawn wire array metamaterials
    • 2.4. Drawn magnetic metamaterials
    • 2.5. Applications
    • 2.6. Future directions—challenges and opportunities
    • 2.7. Conclusions
  • 3. Liquid crystal-infiltrated photonic crystal fibres for switching applications
    • 3.1. Introduction
    • 3.2. LCs in cylindrical capillaries
    • 3.3. Light guidance in LC-infiltrated PCFs
    • 3.4. Switching components based on LC-infiltrated PCFs
    • 3.5. Concluding remarks
  • 4. Microstructured optical fiber filled with carbon nanotubes
    • 4.1. Introduction
    • 4.2. Carbon nanotubes as advanced materials for environmental monitoring
    • 4.3. Carbon nanotubes integration techniques with optical fibers
    • 4.4. Sensing probes fabrication
    • 4.5. Experimental results
    • 4.6. Conclusions
  • 5. Molten glass-infiltrated photonic crystal fibers
    • 5.1. Glassy materials: and why glass-infiltrated photonic crystal fibers (PCFs)?
    • 5.2. Glass-infiltrated PCFs: state of the art and fabrication techniques
    • 5.3. PBG guidance characteristics of composite all-glass PCFs
    • 5.4. Prospects and future directions
    • 5.5. Conclusions and final remarks
• Part Two. Sensing and optofluidic applications
  • 6. Microstructured optical fibre-based sensors for structural health monitoring applications
    • 6.1. Introduction to structural health monitoring applications and fibre Bragg grating sensors
    • 6.2. Microstructured optical fibres for temperature-insensitive pressure and transverse strain sensing
    • 6.3. Structural health monitoring-related applications of the butterfly microstructured optical fibres
    • 6.4. Conclusion and trends
  • 7. Liquid crystals infiltrated photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) for electromagnetic field sensing
    • 7.1. Introduction—state of the art: photonic liquid crystal fibers for electromagnetic field sensing
    • 7.2. LCs infiltrated microstructured optical fibers
    • 7.3. Electric field-induced effects
    • 7.4. Optical field-induced effects
    • 7.5. Conclusions and research directions
  • 8. Polymer micro and microstructured fiber Bragg gratings: recent advancements and applications
    • 8.1. Introduction
    • 8.2. Polymer optical fibers
    • 8.3. Polymer fiber Bragg gratings
    • 8.4. Applications of polymer fiber Bragg grating sensors
    • 8.5. Conclusions
  • 9. Functionalized microstructured optical fibers for specific nucleic acid detection
    • 9.1. Introduction
    • 9.2. Functionalization and hybridization process
    • 9.3. Label-free DNA biosensors based on PNA-functionalized microstructured optical fiber gratings
    • 9.4. Detection of unamplified genomic DNA using a large mode area fiber
    • 9.5. Conclusion
  • 10. Photonic bandgap fibers—a roadway to all-fiber refractometer systems for monitoring of liquid analytes
    • 10.1. Introduction
    • 10.2. Resonant sensing of liquid-core fiber sensors—a theoretical foundation
    • 10.3. Capillary fiber sensors
    • 10.4. Hollow-core photonic crystal fiber sensors
    • 10.5. Liquid-core Bragg fiber sensors
    • 10.6. Solid-core photonic bandgap Bragg fiber spectrometers
    • 10.7. Hollow-core Bragg fiber sensor interrogated with all-fiber spectrometer—an all-fiber spectroscopic system
    • 10.8. Examples of practical applications of the liquid-core Bragg fiber sensors
• Index