Microstructured Polymer Optical Fibers Compared to Conventional POF: Novel Properties and Applications

While polymers are not the traditional materials for optical fibers, polymer optical fibers (POF) have a number of advantages over their glass counterparts for fiber sensors, particularly when coupled range of properties that can be produced using microstructures. This paper reviews some of the recent progress in microstructured polymer fiber sensors and compares them to conventional POF. Sensors considered include mechanical strain sensors and aqueous biosensors based on surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR).