Towards a Uniform Metrological Assessment of Grating-Based Optical Fiber Sensors: From Refractometers to Biosensors

Abstract

A metrological assessment of grating-based optical fiber sensors is proposed with the aim of providing an objective evaluation of the performance of this sensor category. Attention was focused on the most common parameters, used to describe the performance of both optical refractometers and biosensors, which encompassed sensitivity, with a distinction between volume or bulk sensitivity and surface sensitivity, resolution, response time, limit of detection, specificity (or selectivity), reusability (or regenerability) and some other parameters of generic interest, such as measurement uncertainty, accuracy, precision, stability, drift, repeatability and reproducibility. Clearly, the concepts discussed here can also be applied to any resonance-based sensor, thus providing the basis for an easier and direct performance comparison of a great number of sensors published in the literature up to now. In addition, common mistakes present in the literature made for the evaluation of sensor performance are highlighted, and lastly a uniform performance assessment is discussed and provided. Finally, some design strategies will be proposed to develop a grating-based optical fiber sensing scheme with improved performance.

Manufacturing and Spectral Features of Different Types of Long Period Fiber Gratings: Phase-Shifted, Turn-Around Point, Internally Tilted, and Pseudo-Random

“…For instance, the highest RI sensitivity is obtained when the single broad band tends to split into the narrower dual-band feature [17,32,39]. Moreover, in this case, the FWHM is smaller, thus, a higher resolution is expected [40,41]. This is clearly visible looking at the violet curve in Figure 6 and as detailed in Table 1.…”

Real time monitoring of biofilm formation on coated medical devices for the reduction and interception of bacterial infections

“…The biomass of the P. aeruginosa biofilm formed on uncoated ETT sections in the same culture environment after 1 h was 81 µg cm −2 . The sensitivity of the LPG OFS to biomass can be expressed as the smallest wavelength shift per biomass unit, 30 which is 0.002 nm µg −1 cm −2 . The limit of detection is therefore 81 µg cm −2 .…”

Plasmonic biosensors fabricated by galvanic displacement reactions for monitoring biomolecular interactions in real time

“…and represents one of the most important performance parameters of a sensor. To evaluate such parameter for the nAuL, the methodology recommended by the IUPAC and explained for Chiavaioli et al [56] was chosen. This methodology requires a calibration curve of the response of the sensor vs. the concentration of the target analyte at a concentration of 1 to 5 times higher than the suspected DL, an accurate fitting function of such calibration curve, the standard deviation (σ) of the blank measurements (measurement without the analyte under investigation), and the mean value of the blank measurement (Y blank ).…”