Multi-core optical fibre cell sensor having cone circular table fiber end structure

Abstract

The invention provides a multi-core optical fibre cell sensor system having a cone circular table fiber end structure. The optical fibre-cell sensor system is mainly composed of the three parts including a multi-core optical fibre having a novel structure (1), a micro-spherical optical resonant cavity (2) and a to-be-detected living single-cell put in liquid (3); the optical fibre side is polishedinto a rotary and symmetrical cone circular table; optical tweezers are prepared; a gain medium having an amplification function is in the cavity; distribution inside a sphere, outside the sphere oron the surface of a sphere shell can be realized; micro-spheres can be oil drops injected into the cell, and also can be micro-spheres devoured inside by the cell; the output spectrum of the micro-sphere optical resonant cavity in the cell is very sensitive to slight change in environmental physical parameters, such as cell sap in the cell; and amplification measurement can be obtained through laser output signals of a multi-core cone optical fibre. The multi-core optical fibre cell sensor having the cone circular table fiber end structure in the invention can be used for single-cell capture and cell laser spectroscopy, and can be widely used in the technical fields of single-cell manipulation, sensing, measurement and analysis.

Description

(1) Technical field [0001] The invention relates to a multi-core optical fiber cell sensor with a cone-shaped circular table fiber end structure, which can be used for single cell capture and cell laser spectrum measurement, and belongs to the technical field of single cell manipulation, measurement and analysis. (2) Background technology [0002] In 1960, American scientist T.H. Maiman and others successfully created the world's first ruby ​​crystal laser. In 1961, A. Jia Wen and others successfully developed a helium-neon laser. In 1962, R.N. Hall and others developed a gallium arsenide semiconductor laser. . The birth of lasers marks that people have the ability to control the emission direction, phase, frequency and polarization of multiple photons, which makes people's understanding and application of light reach a higher level. Lasers have shown unimaginable application value in the direction of miniaturization and interdisciplinary, so the field of optofluidic lasers...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0004] In June 2001, Gather et al. from Harvard University enabled human embryonic kidney cells to emit laser signals (NATUREPHOTONICS, Single-cell biological lasers, 2011, 5:406-410). The light spot is reduced to the size of a single cell, and a Fabry-Perot resonant cavity with a space slightly larger than the cell size is bonded by two high-reflection mirrors to limit the cells in the position of the excitation light, so the device is bulky. The direction and position of the spatial excitation light are inconvenient to adjust single cells, and the cells can only be captured by means of external space constraints.

In 2015, Humar et al. from Harvard Medical School developed a variety of cell lasers based on whispering gallery mode microcavities (NATURE PHOTONICS, Intracellular microlasers, 2015, 9:572-576), which proved that it can also be realized in natural cells For laser output, a regular circular lipid droplet is artificially embedded in the cell as a whispering gallery mode, and the output signal is coupled to the spectral detector through a multimode optical fiber with a core diameter of 200 μm, but the device is large in size, and the optical fiber used to receive the signal It is thicker and does not have micro-control functions such as precise capture of cells and regulation of the temperature around the cells, making the operation of irradiating the cells with the excitation beam less accurate, and the small displacement of the cells in the liquid will cause the excitation beam to be unable to be accurately coupled into the lipid. drop, so that the gain signal cannot be continuously enhanced, and it also increases the difficulty of the operation of the experiment

[0005] The invention patent with the patent number of CN201510295509.8 proposes a tunable liquid microsphere laser. In this patent, two optical fiber optical tweezers are required to capture the microspheres at the same time, and the output of one end of the optical fiber is opposite to the receiving mode of the other end of the optical fiber. Signal light; the invention patent with the patent number CN201510267391.8 proposes a liquid droplet whispering gallery mode laser and its manufacturing method. In this patent, the input light needs to be coupled into the ring through the single-mode fiber and the ring-core fiber thermal fusion taper. In the core, the droplet also needs to be in contact with the micro-nano fiber to transmit the signal light; the invention patent with the patent number CN201510271055.0 proposes a multi-wavelength droplet laser, which needs to excite multiple droplets For detection, the same as the previous patent, each drop needs to be in contact with a micro-nano fiber for output. This method undoubtedly increases the difficulty of the device. As we all know, the size of the micro-nano fiber is only a few microns, and it is extremely vulnerable to the external environment. and it is difficult to keep the fiber surface clean for a long time, and the patent requires multiple liquid droplets to be arranged linearly, which means that multiple micro-nano optical fibers are required to be linearly distributed. Due to the small size of the liquid droplets, this is also Very high requirements are placed on the experimental operation

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