Biomedical Applications of Specialty Optical Fibers and Fiber Sensors

Level: Introductory Length: 4 hours Format: In-Person Lecture Intended Audience: Technical managers, scientists, engineers, technicians and research students who wish to learn about biomedical sensors and fiber sensing technology and review their implementation and applications. The course is also suitable to gain an overview of the field and to learn about the state-of-the-art of fiber optic-based biomedical and life sciences applications and devices. Description: This course provides a broad overview of optical fiber sensing principles and techniques for biological and medical applications, as well as on the generic uses of specialty optical fibers for biomedical devices and medical instruments. Healthcare industry trends, its sensing needs and the benefits brought on by fiber optics are also reviewed. The course is divided into three sections. Section I provides an introduction to the ongoing status and trends in the healthcare industry and the medical needs that demand the use of optical fibers and fiber-based sensors. In Section II, a review of fiber optic sensor (FOS) technology is made, describing its operating principles, associated components (such as light sources, detectors, couplers, polarizers, etc.), and the specialty fiber types required for biomedical sensing system integration. A review of the non-sensing applications of fibers for illumination, imaging and laser delivery is also made. Finally, in Section III, a review of the major classes of biomedical fiber sensors and sensing techniques is made based on fiber Bragg gratings (FBG), Fabry-Perot cavities, interferometers and others, for single-point and distributed in-vivo sensing. A brief overview will also be given on fiber-optic endoscopic, intra-vascular and needle type probes for Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). Learning Outcomes: This course will enable you to: - describe the operating principles, features and advantages of fiber optic sensors - review a wide range of sensor types for physiological, bio-chemical and imaging applications - learn how specialty optical fibers are used in diverse biomedical devices and sensors - know some of the special biomedical considerations such as materials biocompatibility and related industry standards - illustrate specific sensing solutions and their clinical impact through case-study analysis - obtain an overall view of the healthcare and biomedical fiber sensing industries and their trends Instructor(s): Alexis Mendez is President of MCH Engineering LLC, a consulting firm specializing in optical fiber sensing technology, and has over 25 years of experience in optical fiber technology, sensors and instrumentation. He was the former Group Leader of the Fiber Optic Sensors Lab within ABB Corporate Research (USA), working on the development of new fiber optic sensing systems for electric utility and oil & gas applications. He has written over 65 technical publications, holds 4 US patents and is recipient of an R&D 100 award. He is an SPIE Fellow, editor of the [i ]Specialty Optical Fibers Handbook [/i ] and co-author of the textbook [i ]Fiber Optic Sensors: Fundamentals and Applications [/i ]. Dr. Mendez was also past chair of the International Optical Fiber Sensors Conference (OFS-18). Dr. Mendez holds a PhD. degree in Electrical Engineering from Brown University. Robert A. McLaughlin is a Professor at the University of Adelaide, where he leads research in fiber-optic sensors for oncology. He has over 15 years of experience in medical imaging and was previously a Product Manager with Siemens Medical Solutions, responsible for bringing several medical products to market. Prior to this, he was a researcher in medical imaging at the University of Oxford, UK. He has co-authored over 65 scientific journal papers, 2 book chapters and 7 patents. Event: SPIE Photonics West 2017 Course Held: 30 January 2017