MINIATURIZED FIBEROPTIC CHEMICAL SENSORS WITH FLUORESCENT DYE-DOPED POLYMERS

Miniaturization of optical-fiber chemical sensors has been achieved by near-field optics and photochemical synthesis. We have generalized th is novel nanofabrication technique by using polymers doped with fluore scent dye or fluorescent dextran through photopolymerization. These do ped polymers have been successfully used in chemical-sensor fabricatio n. The new methodologies make it possible to miniaturize further optic al-fiber sensors with multiple chemical sensitivities by a multiple-st ep nanofabrication process.