Tag: fiber Bragg grating sensors

FBG sensors for healthcare applications

Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors for healthcare A collaboration of scientists from different countries (China, Pakistan, and Hong Kong) have developed new 3D printed FBG sensors that can help in creating the ‘smart beds’. Scientists have worked to determine the main advantages of the innovative 3D printed FBG sensors and their applications in different spheres.

3D printing has demonstrated enormous results in different scientific fields. It helps to reduce the costs and makes the production process much easier for the developers. The university scientists have already applied it in their different devices with potential healthcare applications.

The main goal of this development based on the fiber Bragg grating sensors was to track sleeping patterns with high precision. First, the research team hopes that this fiber optic solution can be helpful for hospitals to monitor the well being of patients. Moreover, these fiber Bragg grating sensors are temperature-insensitive, lightweight, and high-accurate. That increases their chances to be installed in more hospitals and improves the quality of care because the staff could respond more quickly when the patients’ condition deteriorates.

Usually, FBGs are a microstructure that length is a few millimeters. It is implemented into a short optical fiber that can transform the light in response to temperature, strain, or vibration. FBG sensors are highly applied in mechanical engineering, textile, and medical spheres, thanks to their high thermal sensitivity.

Nowadays, the production of FBG sensors for healthcare still remains a time-consuming and equipment-intensive process that is hard to replicate. While 3D printing is an advanced technology that allows the creation of complex FBG sensing devices. Moreover, fiber Bragg grating sensors have never been applied to sleep-monitoring.

During the first experiments, the 3D printed FBG sensors were tested while putting under pressure loads. Each device demonstrated a number of consistent wavelengths which leads to the possibility of providing reliable readings. The final tests on fiber Bragg grating sensors were held by placing them under the mattress of a bed. A person demonstrated several sleeping positions while the FBG sensors were tracking his changes in posture.

According to the results, the FBG sensors’ readings were almost precise and had an error rate of less than 1%. Nevertheless, the research team considers that this fiber optic technology still has potential in the future. They could, for example, track a patient’s breathing and identify when the heart rate has begun to fall. And that is not the first time that fiber optic technology can prove beneficial to medicine.

Optromix is a fast-growing vendor of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) product line such as fiber Bragg grating sensors, for example, FBG strain sensors, FBG interrogators and multiplexers, Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) systems, Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) systems. The company creates and supplies a broad variety of fiber optic solutions for monitoring worldwide. If you are interested in structural health monitoring systems and want to learn more, please contact us at info@optromix.com

Fiber Optic Technology as pipeline leak detection method

Fiber Optic Technology for the pipeline leak detection Special fiber optic technology can make fiber optic cable a sensing one. That solves many challenges including monitoring long units like pipelines, tunnels, or power cables. With the help of fiber optic sensors, it is more likely to find the leak in a short time. FBG interrogator sends a laser pulse through the fiber optic cable and the light comes back to the interrogator. The back scattered light delivers back acoustic, vibration, and thermal data.

Distributed sensing is widely used as an external pipeline leak detection method. Distributed sensing systems easily detect changes in temperature, noise, or vibration. Distributed sensing helps in detecting internal events, for example, liquid accumulations in gas pipelines, slugs, and flow constrictions.

Nowadays, distributed sensing pipeline leak detection software includes a wide variety of pipeline applications. The systems that apply distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) or distributed temperature sensing (DTS) are already produced in many projects across tens of thousands of kilometers of pipelines. Therefore distributed sensing systems already proved to be the most cost-effective in leak detecting.

There are standard fiber optic cables with suitable distributed sensing systems compatible with single-mode and multi-mode fibers or with a combination of them. According to the scientists, fiber optic cables with the usage of single-mode fibers are suitable for both DAS and DTS. While fiber optic cables using multi-mode fibers could enhance the DTS systems’ performance. Distributed sensing systems emphasize the detection of thermal and acoustic leak signatures. That’s why there are different types of DAS and DTS systems according to their thermal, acoustic detection capabilities, and performance requirements.

For example, a research team from South Africa is currently applying fiber optic solutions for the detection of leaks in pipelines. Scientists investigated leak detection using fiber Bragg gratings. These were applied to measure strains and temperature on pipelines and in the ground adjacent to pipelines. With the help of fiber optic technology, they could detect water leaks by burying a fiber optic cable into a pipe trench with a new pipe or place it above an existing pipe.

The scientists hope that after a number of experiments they could implement distributed sensing systems in South Africa by monitoring the pipes and delivering the data about water leaks into a leakage detection center. So fiber optic solutions would give an opportunity to fix the leak quickly without losing massive volumes of water. According to them, fiber optic technology shows great promise as a highly effective leak detection system.

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FBG sensors in monitoring road conditions

FBG sensors monitoring road conditions Scientists from Latvia made a number of experiments using fiber optic technology for monitoring the condition of the road surface. They chose special FBG sensors that can collect data about roadway changes, like changes in the strain and temperature. These fiber optic solutions that also include applying fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) will help in designing reliable roads and planning for road repairs.

The process of pavement destroying can’t be completely stopped. However, we can apply more strong materials and repair small cracks in the structure at the early stages. That is why we require new monitoring methods and the most effective ways are fiber optic solutions.

According to the research, the fiber sensors could define the roadway defects and measure the load on the site. So with the help of fiber optic sensors, it will be possible to consider the pressure and vibration created by transport in the area and strengthen the coverage in the right places.

Scientists chose fiber optic systems because fiber optic sensors are highly sensitive and do not require a power supply. Fiber sensors can be installed in an existing fiber optic network and receive data remotely. The basis of fiber optic sensors contains fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). It is a section in the middle of an optical fiber, where the refractive index of light has been changed using ultraviolet radiation. As a result, such a section always reflects radiation only in a very small part of the spectrum and transmits the rest of the light without loss. The fiber Bragg grating (FBG) can be formed so that the wavelength of the reflected light depends on changes in temperature, pressure, or other physical aspects. Because of these parameters, fiber Bragg grating sensors are effective for application.

Scientists placed two types of fiber optic sensors on one of the highways during its renovation. The first one measured deformations in construction, the other detected temperature. Since unprotected fiber sensors are quite fragile, they were packed in composite and ceramic tubes. The first test demonstrated that the most precise strain measurements are possible when the load is placed exactly at the location of the fiber optic sensors. Researchers also specified that temperature plays a crucial role in the deformations of the asphalt. And the final key aspect of the tests with fiber optic technology was monitoring real traffic and defining the truck’s quantity.

Finally, the experiments demonstrate that fiber optic sensors can measure the deformations of the roadway with sufficient accuracy. By applying FBG sensors specialists can determine the moment when the limit of permissible deformations will be exceeded in the selected area. That will definitely help in designing new roads and repairing the existing ones.

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Fiber Optic Technology and its recent advances

Fiber Optic Technology advances During the last 60 years, fiber optic technology has been applied to improve the efficiency of developed systems in various spheres like medicine, vehicles, and other industries. Modern fiber optic solutions expand the abilities by implementing levels of data and sensing technology in the energy, medical field, and even aerospace. There are various fiber optic solutions that help researchers improve their development and make new discoveries in science.

Intrinsic and extrinsic fiber optic sensors are two wide categories of fiber optic sensors. Extrinsic fiber optic sensors utilize the fiber to manage the light to a sensing region. Then the optical signal is modulated in another environment. Talking about the intrinsic fiber optic sensors, the light remains within the waveguide. So it measures the influence of the optical fiber signal.

Intrinsic fiber optic sensor technology, where the fiber optic sensor is the fiber optic cable itself, has improved significantly during recent years. There are two main technologies connected to intrinsic fiber optic sensors: scattering and FBG. FBG methods can be fully distributed or have many sensing points. With the help of FBG sensors, scientists can define the changes by getting precise measurements. Scattering techniques depend on natural imperfections occurring in the fiber optic cable. The FBGs have a high signal-to-noise ratio in comparison with scattering techniques.

Both scattering and FBGs use different demodulation techniques. Scattering techniques get the information by observing changes in naturally back-scattering patterns. For FBG based technology, wavelength division multiplexing is the most prevalent demodulation technique. However, in certain circumstances, optical frequency domain reflectometry can become the most useful method.

Wavelength division multiplexing is able to spread to large distances and get the data rapidly. This technology can also support multiple fiber Bragg gratings on a fiber. It observes critical points more than the whole field of the data. That is why it is mostly applied in automobile crash testing as a monitoring instrument.

The scattering techniques can cover long distances and give a distributed profile of the data. They obtain information all over the entire fiber optic cable. Many systems on the market measure temperature or acoustics and are called Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) or Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS). These techniques are usually applied in monitoring a pipeline for tampering, for example, where there is no need for high-speed acquisition.

Optical frequency domain reflectometry is another demodulation technique that is mostly applied with FBG sensors where fiber Bragg gratings are placed really close and create a fully distributed sensing fiber. It has many advantages like the combination of high spatial resolution, a bunch of fiber optic sensors, a quick refresh rate, and a full distribution set. Apart from distributed sensing of a strain and temperature, this technology allows defining 2D deflection, liquid level, magnetic fields, etc.

Nowadays, thanks to fiber optic technology, scientists have an opportunity to solve any problems in their designs by using fiber optic systems. And there are still many possibilities for fiber optic technology in the future.

Optromix is a fast-growing vendor of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) product line such as fiber Bragg grating sensors, for example, fbg strain sensors, FBG interrogators and multiplexers, Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) systems, Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) systems. The company creates and supplies a broad variety of fiber optic solutions for monitoring worldwide. If you are interested in structural health monitoring systems and want to learn more, please contact us at info@optromix.com

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FBG sensors as a part of a mercury detection system

Fiber Bragg Grating sensors as a part of the mercury detection system Researchers from India have presented a new development. Thanks to it the scientists can find toxic mercury in drinking water. The whole system is based on FBG sensors.

Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors are utilized widely in industrial and commercial applications with the addition of fiber optic solutions. FBGS sensors are especially effective in stabilizing the wavelength of semiconductor lasers and are useful in extracting a single wavelength from the fiber. Fiber Bragg grating sensors are popular in different spheres, including aerospace, robotics, the oil and gas industry, etc. Achievements in creating fiber optic sensors and their applications make the Fiber Bragg grating sensors appropriate for other spheres and developments.

That’s why scientists from India decided to apply Fiber Bragg grating sensors to the mercury detecting system. We can find mercury particles everywhere in the environment. They can be produced not only by human-made causes, like industrial wastes but also by natural ones, for example, combustion of fossil fuels and volcanic eruptions. That’s why the creation of the mercury detection system with the help of FBG sensors was a very important step.

According to medical studies, mercury particles can easily enter the human body. The most common ways are water bodies and marine life. In the human gut, some microorganisms can turn mercury into organic and alkyl forms. These forms of mercury in the human blood-vascular system can lead to diseases of kidneys, nerves, endocrine, and other systems. So the mercury detection system based on fiber Bragg grating sensors plays a crucial role in health care activities.

The developed by the research team FBG sensors are portable in comparison with other traditional techniques. These techniques are gas chromatography and liquid chromatography methods were tested by time. They are considered to be precise and complicated. And they are not portable like fiber Bragg grating sensors. Moreover, they need much time and get more expenses because are made in special laboratories by professionals.

Scientists think that fiber Bragg grating sensors are an ideal decision for the developing mercury detection system. Fiber Bragg grating principles help to make this system cost-expensive and highly effective in comparison with the others. However, they agree that there is still a lot of work to do and Fiber Bragg grating sensors can be updated in the future.

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Spacecraft structural health monitoring by fiber Bragg grating sensors

FBG sensors for spacecraft monitoring Fiber Bragg gratings or FBGs are considered to offer a markworthy application in the fastly growing aerospace industry. The FBG benefits such as phenomenal optical multiplexing make them possible to use as smart fiber optic sensors that allow them to perform structural health monitoring of airborne vehicles and maintain and lengthen their lifetime. Thus, FBG technology plays a crucial role in the spacecraft industry where tiny errors and damage can lead to death for the crew aboard.

To be more precise, fiber Bragg grating is regarded as a thin, tubular optical fiber device that includes a physical “grating” area at its core. Herewith, the core of fiber Bragg gratings is not homogeneous, it has a periodic variation in the refractive material index. The principle of FBG technology operation is based on the change in the core refractive index because of which “some light will be reflected and some will be transmitted through the tube.” Additionally, the periodic spacing of the grating influences the reflected vs transmitted wavelength of light.

FBGs demonstrate efficient operation as narrow bandwidth light filters. The FBG application includes a block of specific wavelengths and transmission of others that is similar to the mode selection that appears in laser cavities. Nevertheless, such features as pressure and strain as well as vibration and displacement also influence the wavelengths of fiber Bragg gratings, while the temperature may lead to thermo-optic effects in the silica material that conventional FBG sensors are made from. Therefore, the mentioned FBG properties allow using them as fiber optic sensors to measure various physical effects at the same time.

FBG technology opens an opportunity to use FBG sensors to determine ultrasonic and acoustic wave signals, with a unique application in structural health monitoring of aerospace vehicles. The thing is that acousto-ultrasonic detection by fiber Bragg grating sensors is highly effective in damage detection if the spacecraft is not mobile (on the ground). Herewith, an ultrasonic actuator is required to produce the ultrasonic signals. It should be noted that the damage detection by FBG sensors is very accurate and quantitative because it allows controlling both the waveform function and the repetition of measurements.

Nevertheless, the limitations in resolution and bandwidth of conventional tools applied with fiber Bragg grating sensors, for example, optical spectrum analyzers, do not provide accuracy in high-frequency detection. It is necessary to use a demodulation method to interpret the detected signals for accurate detection of ultrasonic waves. Herewith, the installation technique of the fiber Bragg gratings is also important in ultrasonic detection. The installation of the fiber Bragg grating sensors into an aerospace vehicle or craft requires the use of various techniques. For example, it is possible to place FBGs into composite materials, however, it may cause signal distortion. This is the reason why a better way is gluing FBG sensors on with some adhesive, such as epoxy.

Optromix is a manufacturer of innovative fiber optic products for the global market. The company provides the most technologically advanced fiber optic solutions for the clients. Optromix produces a wide range of fiber optic devices, including cutting-edge customized fiber optic Bragg grating product line and fiber Bragg grating sensor systems. Moreover, Optromix is a top choice among the manufacturers of fiber Bragg grating monitoring systems. If you have any questions, please contact us at info@optromix.com

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Bioresorbable Fiber Bragg Grating sensor advances medicine

bioresosbable FBG sensor Today environmental change provokes the appearance of new diseases and, finally, human health care requirements continue increasing for several decades. Moreover, it is necessary to have new advanced tools for the disease diagnosis at early stages, for monitoring and treatment of patients. Then unconventional biomedical instrumentation and sensors, including optical-fiber sensors come for help to modern medicine. And devices with bioresorbable fiber sensors increase the efficiency of monitoring and treatment.

Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) is one of the most productive ways suggested for fiber-based biomedical sensing. Fiber Bragg grating sensing technology provides a new and effective way of real-time measurements. The fields of FBGs application contain biosensing, safety or security, and structural-health monitoring. Also, FBG sensors are highly suitable for laser systems, medical tiny intra-aortic probes, and body sensors for biochemical analysis making.

Modern Fiber Bragg Gratings use bioresorbable optical-fiber sensing probes that have such ability as controlled solubility in a physiological environment. A bioresorbable material is the main component of FBG sensors and the human body easily and safely assimilates it at a special time interval. The technology allows safer diagnostic of sensitive human organs and there is no need for a surgical extraction. Fiber Bragg Gratings sensors are easy to install and use, their sensing points have quite high density. It is an ideal, cost-effective, and accurate technology for extreme environmental conditions.

The advantages of optical fiber include:

good mechanical durability;
high optical transmission;
stoichiometrically tunable dissolution rate.

It should be mentioned that tilted Bragg gratings with a 1-degree tilt angle that are immersed in phosphate-buffered saline solution with temperature and pH conditions similar to those of the human body allow fiber dissolution studying. Finally, selective chemical-etching effects were found out thanks to scanning electron microscope images and micro-Raman spectroscopy.

Thus, bioresorbable fiber Bragg grating sensors are considered to be effective for the development of soluble, compact photonic sensing probes that can be used for in vivo monitoring of vital mechanical or chemical factors with a specific time limit, and also in controlled in-body drug delivery.

Optromix is a fast-growing vendor of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) products line such as fiber Bragg grating sensors, FBG interrogators and multiplexers, Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) systems, Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) systems. Optromix creates and supplies a broad variety of fiber optic solutions for monitoring worldwide. The range of services includes research programs, interpretation reports, layout design, system software modeling, commissioning, user training, real-time data transition, equipment supply, ground part installation, engineering, and technical support. If you have questions or would like to buy FBG products, please contact us at info@optromix.com

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Strain Measurement with Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors

Scientists and engineers can perform through the implementation of optical sensors measurements that were previously impractical or, in some cases, impossible with vibrating wire or foil gases. Many applications will require a hybrid approach using the benefits of both electrical and optical measurements together. Fiber Bragg gratings are often used in strain sensing especially in such places where the environment is harsh (for instance, high-EMI, high-temperature, or highly-corrosive). Strain measurement is imperative during prototype design and testing. Strain measurements ensure that materials perform as they should and that the equipment is safe and durable. Measuring strain is crucial for testing complex structures, like aircraft, turbines, etc.

Fiber Bragg grating strain sensors have been infrastructure monitoring of smart structures like bridges, dams, pipelines. By monitoring load, strain, temperature, vibration, and even liquid of gas flow, structural integrity can be assessed and tracked on a real-time basis. There various ways in which stress can be measured, but it is widely accepted that FBG sensors are the most efficient way of strain measurement.

There are two types of applications of the fiber Bragg grating strain sensors:

Long-term Static Strain Sensing. The main issue in the long-term static strain test is an interest in measuring the long-term static strain of the component in question. In order to carry out the above operation, it is necessary to set up the grating on the structure, find out what the initial wavelength is, and then within a set period of time to detect and record the changes that have occurred. Also, it is possible to return to the structure, reattach, and refer back to the initial wavelength. As a result, it becomes possible to obtain the determination of what this strain is from the initial condition at that time. The ability to disconnect your monitoring instrumentation and return for results after a large amount of time such as months or even years is a very great advantage of fiber Bragg grating sensors. For instance, in the case of bridges, it is common for engineers to visit the bridge and conduct the impact testing using an impact hammer on the different parts of the bridge. This is time-consuming and even hazardous because of the height of some bridge structures. The distribution of a number of FBG sensors throughout the bridge and the attachment of the instrumentation to this bridge on a periodic basis is a much more efficient solution. This is only one of the good examples to demonstrate the effectiveness of the fiber Bragg grating strain sensors. Besides bridges, other examples of using FBG for long-term static strain testing are buildings, piers, and structures in high earthquake-prone areas.
Dynamic Strain Sensing. The different structures may have very-low-frequency modes, and they may also have higher modes due to the effects of wind and tide. Most earthquakes and other earth tremors are low-frequency events. Fiber Bragg gratings can be attached to the structures and monitored for the vibrations during the earth’s tremors and earthquakes. The low-frequency dynamic strain testing can help in determining the reaction of high-rise buildings to the wind. In addition to this, FBG sensors create connections with peers and other shore structures to determine their vibrations during the ebb and flow of tides. Dynamic strain testing can also be performed on transportation vehicles like automobiles, trains, and airplanes. In addition to civil structures and vehicles, there are a number of other applications for dynamic strain testing and vibration stress testing using fiber Bragg gratings. FBG sensors can be attached to industrial machinery to determine the frequency and amplitude of the stress vibrations.

Optromix, Inc. is a U.S. manufacturer of innovative fiber optic products for the global market, based in Cambridge, MA. Our team always strives to provide the most technologically advanced fiber optic solutions for our clients. Our main goal is to deliver the best quality fiber optic products to our clients. We produce a wide range of fiber optic devices, including our cutting-edge customized fiber optic Bragg grating product line and fiber Bragg grating sensor systems.

If you would like to purchase Optromix FBG Strain Sensors, please contact us: info@optromix.com or +1 617 558 98 58

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Fiber Optics in Avionics: Optical Fiber vs. Copper Cable

Fiber optic technology is revolutionizing the avionics systems and is lightly to be the ideal solution to future aircraft requirements. Fiber optic products are revolutionizing the avionics systems and ideally to be the perfect solution to future requirements. A modern jet has enormous amounts of data flowing through it to support the latest technologies in the cockpit and the cabin. All that data has to be delivered at lightning speed. This necessity has led aircraft manufacturers and airlines to turn to the optical fiber. The copper cables co-existed with fiber optic applications for decades. Currently, designers and engineers find fiber optic products to make better sense technically and economically in the overwhelming majority of cases.

The ability of the optical fiber to transmit much more information in less time over longer distances than traditional copper wire has become the reason that fiber optic equipment is being deployed on aircraft. There are fiber optic bundles of copper cables in an aircraft and the signals which they carry are fully replaceable by fiber optic products to allow an improvement of the system in various different ways.

There are two common trends regarding data transmission in the avionics market: constantly growing transmission speeds and the need to reduce weight. Fiber optic systems are an ideal response to these two trends in providing for high-speed data and immunity to electromagnetic interference that eliminates the need for any type of screening which can often be very expensive due to their weight and complexity. Fiber optic equipment offers lower wastage, weight, size, etc. These advantages make fiber optic equipment suitable for application in aircraft where space restrictions and electromagnetic interferences could be detrimental.

Nowadays fiber optic systems have been implemented in different aircraft systems such as sensory systems, distributed opening systems, and fiber optic aircraft monitoring.

In addition to this, fiber optic devices applied to the monitoring of aircraft structures provide some advantages over traditional devices. Fiber Bragg grating sensors have proved to constitute the most promising technology in this field. In order to prolong the operation period of all kinds of complex engineering systems and avoid catastrophic failures, so it is necessary to achieve the highest levels of damage detection. The automation of the inspection process is a point of major importance to reduce inspection efforts. The structural health monitoring system on the basis of fiber optic products can be defined as a set of devices that provide information that allows us to locate, evaluate, and predict the loading and damage conditions of a structure. The structural health monitoring of aircraft structures can conduct real-time checks, reducing costs, and improving the reliability and performance of the structures. A wide range of potential structural health monitoring technologies is being developed to meet these needs, and the most promising options are:

electrical strain gauges and crack wires;
acoustic emissions methods;
optical-based technologies;
comparative vacuum monitoring;
microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).

Fiber optic products and fiber optic devices, in general, are very appropriate to perform structural health monitoring due to the fact that they have their intrinsic capabilities, such as sensitivity to electromagnetic radiation, low weight, compact size, great sensitivity and resolution, and their suitability to be embedded into structures. Fiber optic devices for monitoring the strain in aircraft structures can be classified into the following categories: intensity-based, interferometric, distributed, and grating-based fiber optic devices.

Among grating-based sensors, FBGs and probably the most mature and widely employed optical sensors for structural health monitoring of engineering structures due to their fast development achieved in recent years. Fiber Bragg grating sensors have important advantages over conventional strain sensors:

high sensitivity and resolution, low weight and small size, the absence of the electromagnetic interference;
suitability for being attached to a structure or embedded in composite materials
high multiplexing capability;
wavelength-encoded sensing in a way that is totally independent of the optical intensity;
different magnitudes can be measured using FBGs, such as strain, temperature, vibration, or humidity.

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New Types of In-Body Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors for Biomedical Research and Treatments

FBG sensors for biomedical research This year, for the first time ever, scientists have fabricated sensing elements known as fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) inside fiber optic products designed to dissolve completely inside the body. Such bioresorbable fiber Bragg gratings could be used for in-body monitoring of bone fracture healing and for safer exploration of sensitive organs such as the brain. FBGs are optical elements which inscribed in optical fibers. Fiber Bragg gratings are commonly used for applications such as structural health monitoring of bridges or tracking the integrity of airplane wings. FBGs didn’t exhibit characteristics preferred for use in the body until now. According to the researchers, such new fibers should be safe for patient’s health even if they accidentally break, because these fibers have a design that allows them to break down similarly to dissolvable stitches. These fiber Bragg grating sensors don’t need to be removed after use and would enable new ways to perform efficient treatments and diagnoses in the body. New fibers have a diameter twice as that of human hair. They have the ability to dissolve into solutions with temperature and pH resembling those of the human body, within typical times that span between several hours and a few days.

The new bioresorbable optical fiber Bragg gratings could be used to sense pressure at joints or act as tiny probes that can safely reach and assess the heart and other delicate organs. In addition to this, these fiber Bragg grating sensors could simultaneously deliver the laser beam and provide the accurate real-time temperature sensing necessary to monitor the laser ablation process. In other words, this new ability can be used for improving the laser-based techniques for removing tumors. On the basis of the new aforementioned applications of fiber Bragg gratings, a variety of types of interconnected structures in or on bioresorbable optical fibers can be created over the next years. It will allow a wide range of sensing and biochemical analysis techniques to be performed inside the body.

The researchers developed a special type of glass made of phosphorous oxide combined with oxides of calcium, magnesium, sodium, and silicon to create optical fiber Bragg grating sensors that could be safely used in the body. Such glass combines excellent optical properties with biocompatibility and water solubility. The properties of the optical fibers can be tuned by properly changing the glass composition.

A type of grating known as tilted optical fiber Bragg grating allows some of the reflected light to escape from the fiber core and enter into the surrounding cladding. Tilted gratings are often used for sensing because changes on the fiber cylindrical surface modify the back-reflected light in a way that can be monitored. Scientists and engineers created both tilted and standard optical fiber Bragg gratings to understand how the parameters used for inscription affected the grating sensing characteristics. Nowadays the researchers are performing systematic experiments to better understand how the fiber composition and ultraviolet laser irradiation conditions affect the speed at which the fiber Bragg grating dissolves. The dissolving and sensing properties of the fiber Bragg gratings will need to be studied in animals before being used in people.

If you have any questions, please contact us at info@optromix.com

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