A review on photonic crystal fiber based fluorescence sensing for chemical and biomedical applications

Photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) have received tremendous interest in recent years for many biomedical applications due to their unique light-guiding properties. PCF based fluorescence sensors are providing a new paradigm in highly sensitive detection of biomolecules at very low sample volumes. Specific PCFs, including hollow-core PCFs and solid-core PCFs, are highly efficient optofluidic sensing platforms as they address the key challenges by providing a long interaction length between guided light and biological analyte residing in the micro-capillary holes that run along the entire length of the fiber. This review includes an overview of the recent advancements in fluorescence detection with various PCF configurations and provides a comparison between existing conventional fluorescence methods for chemical and clinical applications. A critical insight into novel PCF based fluorescence sensing configurations, and their prospective/potential applications will be discussed. Future perspectives on translating such probes as an optofluidic biopsy needle for clinically relevant biomarker detection will also be included.