Infrared and Laser Engineering, Volume. 54, Issue 4, 20250052(2025)

Exploring fiber optic technology through DIY: empowering innovation and creativity (inner cover paper·invited)

Libo YUAN1... Yijian CHEN2, Shitai YANG1, Donghui WANG1, Zhiyuan XU2 and Lingzhi MENG2 |Show fewer author(s)
Author Affiliations
  • 1School of Optoelectronics Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China
  • 2School of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, China
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    SignificanceOptical fiber technology has changed the world by enabling global communication through high-speed information transmission and interconnectivity. The associated optical fiber sensing technology has also been rapidly developed. In recent years, with the great progress of optical fiber sensing technology, it has been widely used in many scenarios with its excellent performance, unique flexibility and rich functional characteristics. On the one hand, it is worth paying special attention to that the research of special optical fibers and their devices plays a crucial role in the realization and expansion of optical fiber sensing applications. On the other hand, the expansion of new application areas will, in turn, put forward some new demands, which is an opportunity and a challenge for optical fiber technology. In fact, the unique physical and optical transmission properties of optical fibers make them ideal components for biomedical sensors, and various types of optical fibers are widely used in biosensing instruments used in clinical research and application processes related to life sciences. However, each fiber optic structure has certain advantages and limitations for specific applications in biomedicine. This has become the source of continuous advancement of special fiber technology to meet new needs. Therefore, this paper takes the application and demand of optical fiber technology in the biomedical field as an example, analyzes the development trend of this field, focuses on several typical functional requirements of clinical treatment such as optogenetics, biosensing, drug delivery and neural recording, and gives technical approaches on how to solve new needs in different fields through DIY technology and methods of optical fiber and devices. This paper provides a flexible fiber optic technology DIY solution for how to respond to new requirements in various application fields.ProgressAfter nearly 50 years of academic research and technical development, China's optical fiber sensing technology has formed an exponential accelerated development trend in recent years, for the following reasons: 1) Because optical fiber sensing technology has been widely used in several practical scenarios, especially the increasingly mature distributed optical fiber sensing technology has formed a new industry branch; 2) The development and application of micro-nano technology and material technology have also provided many new methods for optical fiber sensing technology; 3) The rapid development of China's economy not only provides a broad market for the practical application of optical fiber sensing technology, but also boosts the prosperity and progress of basic research in this field. Under the above development background, optical fiber sensing technology is also constantly expanding to other fields, especially in the biomedical field, which is reflected in the increasing expansion of optical fiber wearable health monitoring, interventional in vivo spectral detection, lensless fiber microscopic imaging, optical fiber in optogenetic neurology and other fields. The urgent problems to be solved are: On the one hand, with the expansion of the application field, various new requirements are constantly emerging; On the other hand, the original fiber structure and function are difficult to meet the needs of the growing development. It is well known that accurate, rapid and non-invasive detection and diagnosis of malignant diseases in tissues is an important goal of biomedical research. Interventional optical fiber technology provides infinite possibilities for minimally invasive in situ diagnosis and treatment. With the deepening of the application research of optical fiber technology in the field of biomedicine, the special demand for optical fiber is increasing day by day, from structure to function: in addition to the optical channel that senses and transmits optical signals, it is also necessary to increase the micropore function that can realize the microfluid input and body fluid acquisition. Further, it is also hoped to add electrode functions that can achieve electrical signal acquisition or electrical pulse stimulation. For application purposes, it is also expected that all or part of the above functions will be integrated into a single fiber. Because combining optical fibers with different functional devices, such as microfluidics with optical fiber devices, the characteristics of microfluidics can be integrated, which provides the possibility of sharing light-based sensors and liquid transport systems. However, such a multi-functional fiber also needs to match the corresponding supporting fan-in fan-out devices to achieve their respective independent functions, which has become a new challenge and difficulty in the use of multi-functional fiber. From the perspective of the needs of the biomedical field, the required optical fibers and devices are very different from the traditional optical fiber technology, requiring a variety of new functions to be integrated in the optical fiber, in addition, it is also necessary to solve the connection with the multi-functional integrated fan-in devices (all-fan-in) at the various applications. For this purpose, this paper reports our miniature DIY optical fiber manufacturing system and a series of DIY processing and manufacturing desktop equipment for the preparation of optical fiber devices, and explains its working principle and manufacturing method. These devices are especially suitable for the design and experiment of new optical fibers and devices in the laboratory, which not only opens the space of free imagination for researchers' innovation and creation. Moreover, it provides greater flexibility and convenience of preparation. It provides more possibilities for the realization of various inspirations, and realizes the freedom from ideological innovation to practical creation in the field of optical fiber technology and its application.Conclusions and ProspectsFiber optic technology has been a key technology in shaping the high-speed transmission of information around the world and keeping everywhere interconnected, with enhanced bandwidth, high data transmission speeds and extremely high fidelity. Developments in fiber optic technology have also been crucial to the proliferation of sensing applications. Optical fiber sensor has the advantages of anti-electromagnetic interference, light weight, small size, high sensitivity, large bandwidth, reliable performance, robust, resistant to harsh environment, easy to implement multiplexing or distributed sensors. So far, optical fiber sensors have been widely used in civil engineering, environmental monitoring, agricultural engineering, biomedical engineering and other fields. It is worth noting that the invention and development of specialty fibers have driven a proliferation of many sensing innovations and applications, including fibers with special structures, special materials, and applications that integrate devices with other technologies. In the field of optical fiber technology and its application, the incentive to achieve cross-innovation has three dimensions, dimension 1: application and demand are traction and driving force, that is, demand is the source of innovation; Dimension 2: The function and structure of optical fiber is a concomitant innovation to meet the needs. It is designed through the optimization of function and structure and realized through the preparation of optical fiber. Dimension 3: The optical fiber device is a part of the function that needs to be completed in order to meet the overall function of the optical fiber system, which can be obtained by secondary processing and preparation of the relevant optical fiber. Therefore, in this multi-dimensional space system, manufacturing capacity is the basis and guarantee for the realization of the above innovation.

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    Libo YUAN, Yijian CHEN, Shitai YANG, Donghui WANG, Zhiyuan XU, Lingzhi MENG. Exploring fiber optic technology through DIY: empowering innovation and creativity (inner cover paper·invited)[J]. Infrared and Laser Engineering, 2025, 54(4): 20250052

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    Paper Information

    Category: Invited review

    Received: Jan. 16, 2025

    Accepted: --

    Published Online: May. 16, 2025

    The Author Email:

    DOI:10.3788/IRLA20250052

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