Multimode evanescent wave-based sensors: enhancement strategies

There is currently a need for new technologies that are designed specifically for the economical field monitoring of toxins, explosives, and chemical contaminants. The United States has, for example, implemented five regulatory acts to protect its ecologies and its citizens from environmental pollution, and these acts all mandate the monitoring of various chemical contaminants. It is generally accepted that the number of analyses that would be required to meet these new standards would exceed the capacity of all the certified testing labs in the country. New field-portable equipment is needed that can supplement lab-based diagnostic analytical instrumentation, but a continuing problem has been the development of field hardware that can identify and quantify with high specificity a particular species of interest. One of the most promising strategies for performing such narrowly targeted field assays is based on sensors that harness natural immune and protective responses of animals and humans to hone in on a specific compound. This paper discusses the design of a new solid-state portable fluorometer that can be used for the interrogation of a wide range of multimode fiber optic biosensors.