A Review on Design and Development of Smartphone-Integrated Optical Fiber Sensors

ABSTRACT

Smartphone-based optical fiber sensors are new areas of integrated technology where the flexibility of optical fibers is combined with robust inbuilt optical sensors such as camera and ambient light sensor (ALS) of smartphone. Modifying the tip or a portion of an optical fiber with or without changing its probe geometry and coupling the modulated light signal with smartphones’ camera or ambient light sensor have been shown to perform as compact portable devices. In this review article, such types of smartphone platform optical fiber sensors using different techniques for detection of physical, chemical, and biological analytes and development of different types of real-time health care monitoring devices have been discussed. With its inception, very few research works have been reported in this area and can be regarded as one of the few unexplored areas of integrated technology. Through this review article, it is intended to highlight numerous sensing applications in a nutshell that have been reported utilizing optical fibers integrated with smartphone as readout system till date. Furthermore, the current scenario, along with challenges and future scopes of such devices, have been summarized.

KEYWORDS:

• Smartphone
• Ambient light sensor (ALS)
• optical fibers
• light
• probe

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sibasish Dutta

Sibasish Dutta is an accomplished professional with a strong academic background in physics. He obtained his PhD in Physics from Tezpur University in 2017 and, prior to that, completed his MSc in Physics from the same institution in 2011. He is currently serving as an assistant professor in the Department of Physics at PDUAM Eraligool, Karimganj and has been actively involved in teaching undergraduate students and providing them with guidance in various aspects of physics since joining in 2017. His research interests include photonics, optical sensors and systems, and smartphone-based optical sensors. He has authored a total of 13 publications in national and international journals. He has also authored four book chapters under reputed publishing group.

Dimpi Paul

Dimpi Paul is an accomplished professional with a strong academic background in physics. She obtained her PhD in Physics from Tezpur University in 2018 and, prior to that, completed her MSc in Physics from the same institution in 2012. She is currently serving as an assistant professor in the Department of Physics at Patharkandi College, Patharkandi and has been actively involved in teaching undergraduate students and providing them with guidance in various aspects of physics since joining in 2020. Her research interests include photonic crystal fiber modelling, optical fiber sensors, and plasmonics. She has authored a total of 12 publications in national and international journals. She has also authored four book chapters under reputed publishing group.