State-of-the-Art Optical Devices for Biomedical Sensing Applications—A Review

Abstract

Optical sensors for biomedical applications have gained prominence in recent decades due to their compact size, high sensitivity, reliability, portability, and low cost. In this review, we summarized and discussed a few selected techniques and corresponding technological platforms enabling the manufacturing of optical biomedical sensors of different types. We discussed integrated optical biosensors, vertical grating couplers, plasmonic sensors, surface plasmon resonance optical fiber biosensors, and metasurface biosensors, Photonic crystal-based biosensors, thin metal films biosensors, and fiber Bragg grating biosensors as the most representative cases. All of these might enable the identification of symptoms of deadly illnesses in their early stages; thus, potentially saving a patient’s life. The aim of this paper was not to render a definitive judgment in favor of one sensor technology over another. We presented the pros and cons of all the major sensor systems enabling the readers to choose the solution tailored to their needs and demands.

Integrated Photonics Packaging: Challenges and Opportunities

“…Beyond telecommunications and data communications, integrated photonics is rapidly expanding into emerging application fields such as quantum optics, microwave photonics, LiDAR, biological sensing, spectroscopy, optical trapping and manipulation, biomedical imaging, microscopy, AR/VR display, optomechanics, and many others. Each diverse use case stipulates unique packaging requirements.…”

Evanescent Field Controllable MZ Sensor via Femtosecond Laser Processing and Mechanic Polishing

“…When we input the light of [10] into the interferometer, the electric field intensity distribution at the end of the interferometer is…”

“…Compared with traditional sensors, optical sensors have the advantages of reliable stability, high accuracy, and fast response. Optical sensors are widely used in aerospace [1], industrial and agricultural production [2][3][4][5], and medical devices [6][7][8][9][10], among other fields. On-chip optical sensors possess not only the advantages of ordinary optical sensors, but also the characteristics of small volume, light weight, and robustness against electromagnetic interference [11,12].…”

Recent Advances in Biomedical Photonic Sensors: A Focus on Optical-Fibre-Based Sensing

“…For information about fundamentals, operation principles of the sensors, and previous works not covered in this review, the reader is referred to the literature regarding opticalfibre sensors applied in the biomedical field [6,12,[17][18][19][20][21][22]. For an extended list of reviews of optical-fibre sensors focused on biomedical applications (or with biomedical interest), the reader is referred to Table S1 in the supporting information.…”