Linear electro-optical effect in silica fibers poled with ultraviolet lamp.

A second-order nonlinearity was induced in silica fibers poled by exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation and simultaneous high voltage applied to internal electrodes. The UV light source was a tubular lamp with spectral peak at 254 nm. The highest second-order nonlinear coefficient measured through the linear electro-optic effect was 0.062 pm/V. The erasure of the recorded voltage with UV excitation was studied, and the stability of the poled fiber at a temperature exceeding ~400 K was investigated. By eliminating the use of a focused laser beam as excitation source, the technique enables poling many pieces of fiber in parallel.

Optical creation and erasure of the linear electrooptical effect in silica fiber.

We study the creation and erasure of the linear electrooptical effect in silicate fibers by optical poling. Carriers are released by exposure to green light and displaced with simultaneous application of an internal dc field. The second order nonlinear coefficient induced grows with poling bias. The field recorded (~108 V/m) is comparable to that obtained through classical thermal poling of fibers. In the regime studied here, the second-order nonlinearity induced (~0.06 pm/V) is limited by the field applied during poling (1.2 × 108 V/m). Optical erasure with high-power green light alone is very efficient. The dynamics of the writing and erasing process is discussed, and the two dimensional (2D) field distribution across the fiber is simulated.

Dengue immunoassay with an LSPR fiber optic sensor.

Dengue fever is a viral disease that affects millions of people worldwide. Specific tests for dengue are not usually performed due to high costs, complicated procedures and, in some cases, long time to yield a result. For widespread use of specific tests to be possible, fast, reliable and fairly simple methods are needed. In this paper, we present a new dengue diagnostic method for the acute phase of the infection. The method proposed uses an all-optical fiber sensor based on Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) and specular reflection from gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). Dengue anti-NS1 antibody was immobilized on AuNPs deposited on the endface of a standard multimode fiber (62.5 µm/125 µm). The sensor is able to detect NS1 antigen at different concentrations, with limit of quantification estimated to be 0.074 µg/ml = 1.54 nM. These results indicate that the sensor could potentially be used for dengue diagnosis in the acute phase of the infection.