The present work demonstrates the integration of hollow core photonic crystal fibers (HC-PCF), microfluidics, and statistical analysis for monitoring biomolecules using Raman spectroscopy. HC-PCF as a signal enhancer has been proven by many researchers. However, there have been challenges in using HC-PCF for practical applications due to limitations such as coupling, stability, evaporation, clogging, consistent filling, and reusing the same fiber. This limited the potential of HC-PCF to detect low concentrations of liquid samples, which is why HC-PCF still hasn’t transcended the lab barriers. The current device is based on an H-design lay-out which uses the pressure difference between the two ends of the fiber for filling and flushing the liquid samples. This mitigated several issues related to device performance by allowing us to fill the fiber with liquid samples consistently, rapidly and reproducibly. The resulting Raman signals were significantly more stable as various concentrations of ethanol in water were sequentially introduced into the fiber. The scheme also allowed us to overcome the barrier of predicting low concentrations by applying Partial Least Square (PLS) technique which was done for the first time using HC-PCF. Thus, the present scheme paves path for the inclusion of HC-PCF in the main stream point-of-care technology.
The present work explores the feasibility of using surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) for detecting the
neurotransmitters such as glutamate (GLU) and gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA). These amino acid neurotransmitters
that respectively mediate fast excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission in the brain, are important for neuroendocrine
control, and upsets in their synthesis are also linked to epilepsy. Our SERS-based detection scheme enabled the detection
of low amounts of GLU (10-7 M) and GABA (10-4 M). It may complement existing techniques for characterizing such
kinds of neurotransmitters that include high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or mass spectrography (MS).
This is mainly because SERS has other advantages such as ease of sample preparation, molecular specificity and
sensitivity, thus making it potentially applicable to characterization of experimental brain extracts or clinical diagnostic samples of cerebrospinal fluid and saliva. Using hollow core photonic crystal fiber (HC-PCF) further enhanced the
Raman signal relative to that in a standard cuvette providing sensitive detection of GLU and GABA in micro-litre
volume of aqueous solutions.
A new method for using a non-selectively filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (HC-PCF) as a sensitive
Raman spectroscopy platform suitable for biosensing applications is presented. A 1550 HC-PCF was
completely filled with ethanol (core and cladding holes). Using a 785nm excitation laser, the Raman spectrum
of ethanol in the fiber core was obtained and compared with the equivalent Raman spectrum of an ethanolfilled
cuvette. Using a relatively short 9.5cm length of HC-PCF, a Raman signal enhancement factor of 40 over
a bulk solution of ethanol was observed under the same excitation conditions. The small sample volume
utilized and longer interaction length provides the potential for compact, sensitive, and low-power Raman
sensing of biological materials
We demonstrate cladding mode assisted supercontinuum generation in a solid core photonic crystal fiber.
Although the fiber is commonly considered as endlessly single mode, we show that coupling light into the
cladding excites much broader spectrum compared with the situation when only fundamental mode is excited.
Comparing experimental data with the results of the modal analysis and the simulations of the pulse propagation
in the fiber, we conclude that cladding mode has more favorable dispersion characteristics for the continuum
generation. We discuss possible usage of the cladding mode assisted supercontinuum in biosensor applications.
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