Giant enhancement of Raman scattering by a hollow-core microstructured optical fiber allows single exosome probing

Xia, Z., Zhang, X., Yao, J., Liu, Z., Jin, Y., Yin, H. , Wang, P. and Wang, X.-H. (2023) Giant enhancement of Raman scattering by a hollow-core microstructured optical fiber allows single exosome probing. ACS Sensors, 8(4), pp. 1799-1809. (doi: 10.1021/acssensors.3c00131) (PMID:37018734)

Abstract

Microstructured optical fibers (MOFs) provide solutions for breaking through the bottlenecks in areas of high-power transmission and high-efficiency optical waveguides. Other than transporting light waves, MOFs can synergistically combine microfluidics and optics in a single fiber with an unprecedented light path length not readily achievable by planar optofluidic configurations. Here, we demonstrate that hollow-core anti-resonant optical fibers (HcARFs) can significantly enhance Raman scattering by over three orders of magnitude (EF ≈ 5000) compared with a planar setup, due to the joint mechanisms of strong light–matter interaction in the fiber core and the cumulative effect of the fiber. The giant enhancement enables us to develop the first optical fiber sensor to achieve single cancer exosome detection via a sandwich-structured strategy. This enables a multiplexed analysis of surface proteins of exosome samples, potentially allowing an accurate identification of the cellular origin of exosomes for cancer diagnosis. Our findings could expand the applications of HcARF in many exciting areas beyond the waveguide.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This research was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no: 92053116 and no: 62035002), the National Research and Development Program of China (no. 2017YFB0405200), and the Beijing Natural Science Foundations (L182011, 4192013)
• Keywords: Enhancement of Raman scattering, Hollow-core anti-resonant optical fiber, strong light-matter interaction, single exosome detection, cancer diagnosis.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Yin, Professor Huabing
• Authors: Xia, Z., Zhang, X., Yao, J., Liu, Z., Jin, Y., Yin, H., Wang, P., and Wang, X.-H.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Biomedical Engineering
• Journal Name: ACS Sensors
• Publisher: American Chemical Society
• ISSN: 2379-3694
• ISSN (Online): 2379-3694
• Published Online: 05 April 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 American Chemical Society
• First Published: First published in ACS Sensors 8(4): 1799-1809
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher