Sol-gel chemical and biological fiber-optic sensors and sensor arrays

Tremendous progress has been made in recent years in understanding some of the fundamental aspects of chemical and biological sensing. Most research and commercialization efforts have been focused upon fabricating individual sensors for specific and usually narrow applications and application environments. Inasmuch as most commercially available chemical and biological sensors were developed independently of one another, trying to integrate them into one device would be extremely difficult and costly. The challenge of integration rests primarily on developing a multi-functional "platform" sensing technology that can allow the high volume, low cost fabrication of large numbers of individual sensors on a single array. Just as an image on a view screen is composed of a large number of light generating pixels, a sensor array would also be composed of a large number of "sensels", individual sensor elements to generate an "image" or map of an unknown substance, be it liquid or vapor, being examined. Emphasis needs to be given to the types of platform approaches that have the greatest likelihood of supporting broad based sensing capabilities. This paper is intended as an overview of some of the most exciting recent developments made by researchers in the field that point to an approach that could provide a broad based sensing platform Also disclosed is our new sensor array technology. Through the merging of technologies and resources, highly sophisticated, commercially viable sensor systems could be practical within only a few years.