This paper reviews sensing applications of optical fibre microwires and nanowires. In addition to the usual benefits of sensors based on optical fibres, these sensors are extremely compact and have fast response speeds. In this review sensors will be grouped in three categories according to their morphology: linear sensors, resonant sensors and tip sensors. While linear and resonant sensors mainly exploit the fraction of power propagating outside the microwire physical boundary, tip sensors take advantage of the extreme light confinement to sense chemicals within minute areas.

Date Published: 17 May 2011
PDF: 4 pages
Proc. SPIE 7753, 21st International Conference on Optical Fiber Sensors, 77530C (17 May 2011); doi: 10.1117/12.883119

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7753:
21st International Conference on Optical Fiber Sensors
Jacques Albert; Wojtek J. Bock, Editor(s)