Modeling and prototyping of polymer fiber based chemical and biological agent sensors

摘要

We are studying ways to improve the performance of evanescent wave biosensors for use in detecting chemical and biological agents. We show a beam-propagation simulation that is used to determine the optimum fiber profile to achieve the desired propagation parameters. the model parameters can then be used to fabricate polymer fibers using an in-house fiber drawing apparatus. We also demonstrate a simple method of comparing the optical performance of different waveguides for use in such sensors.