OPTICAL PRESSURE MEASUREMENTS FOR BIOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS

Abstract

Extrinsic fiber optic pressure transducer (optode) development has progressed from the use of bifurcated bundles, to dual-fiber configurations, and recently to singlefiber optodes. Pressure optodes are used in biomedical applications because of the advantages (electrical isolation of the patient, immunity to electromagnetic fields and small size) they offer over older, electrically based measurements. It is also possible to use intrinsic fiber optic sensors, based on pressure-induced changes in in the fiber itself, to make distributed sensing systems.