Compact fiber optic immunosensor using tapered fibers and acoustic enhancement

A compact fiber-optic sensing system that features all-fiber optical design and semiconductor-laser excitation has been developed and tested. A 2X2 fiber coupler directs the input light to the SMA connected sensing fiber tip and the fluorescent signal back to a CCD fiber spectrophotometer. In this system, the fluorescent signal is confined in the fiber system so the signal-to-noise ratio is greatly improved and the system can be operate in ambient light conditions. The utilization of a red laser diode has reduced the background signal of non-essential biomolecules. The fluorescent dye used is Cy5, which has an excitation wavelength of 650 nm and a fluorescent center wavelength of 680 nm. To illustrate the biosensor's diagnostic capabilities, a sandwich immunoassay to detect Salmonella is presented. Tapered fiber tips with different shapes and treatments were studied and optimized. An enhancement system employing ultrasonic concentration of target particles has also been developed and applied to the detection of Salmonella. The immunoassay was conducted in a test chamber that also serves as an ultrasonic standing-wave cell and allows microspheres to be concentrated in a column along the fiber probe. The system demonstrates broad promise in future biomedical application.