Fibre-optic micro-spectrometers for biomedical sensing

The advent of fibre-optic micro-spectrometers in the past 10 years has introduced a broad range of novel biomedical sensing applications. These instruments offer increased flexibility, particularly at the front end, while still providing data comparable with the larger laboratory-based spectrometer systems. A number of key spectrometer specifications, of particular importance when examining biomedical samples, are discussed. These specification permutations also apply to the examination and quantification of a large range of physical, chemical, environmental and medical analytes and targets. Results for different system specifications, using an Ocean Optics S1000 micro-spectrometer, are presented using redox pigments in vitro as a sample analyte. The specifications discussed include spatial resolution, sample nature and volume, spectral range and resolution, signal-to-noise ratio and acquisition speed. The results presented show that a number of specification permutations can be combined to optimize system performance for particular analytes and targets.