Optical Fiber Sensor Measures Deviations in Spine

The sensors have already been used to monitor the curvature of structures and robotic arms. But measuring both the magnitude and direction of the spine’s curvature presents an additional challenge.

Tiny Optical Sensors Could End Hospital Bed Sores

Scientists have designed tiny smart bed sensors embedded in hospital mattresses could put an end to painful and potentially life-threatening pressure sores, thanks to new technology. The...

AI-Enabled Optical Fiber Sensor Device Monitors Brain Injury

The results from tests on animal brain tissues suggest it could help clinicians to better monitor both disease progression and patients’ response to treatment than is currently possible.

Miniature Optical Fiber Treatment Device Offers More Effective Cancer Immunotherapy

The device infuses antibodies through the miniature fiber to the tumor to activate T cells around tumor cells.

Ultra-Sensitive, Small Optomechanical Ultrasound Sensor

An optomechanical ultrasound sensor on a silicon photonic chip provides unprecedented sensitivity due to an innovative optomechanical waveguide.

Smart Textiles Powered by Soft Transmission Lines

The fibers measure subtle and complex fabric deformations.

Researchers Map Light and Sound Wave Interactions in Optical Fibers

Optical fibers make the Internet happen. They are fine threads of glass, as thin as a human hair, produced to transmit light. Optical fibers carry thousands of gigabits of...

Ultrathin Endoscope Captures Neurons Firing Deep in the Brain

Researchers have developed an endoscope as thin as a human hair that can image the activity of neurons in the brains of living mice. Because it is so thin, the endoscope can reach...

Highly Sensitive Optical Fiber Pressure Sensors with Potential for Cardiology and Other Medical Applications

Optical fibers. To the average person, the phrase might conjure up an image of glowing hairs twisted artistically into a beautiful...

Illuminated Pajamas Treat Newborns

To treat newborns for treat, the babies lie in incubators. Irradiation with blue light in an incubator is necessary because toxic decomposition products of the blood pigment hemoglobin are deposited in the...

Micro-Optomechanical Pressure Sensor Advances Pressure Monitoring in Biomedical Applications

A new type of pressure sensor is based on micro-optomechanical systems (MOMS) technology. Developed by imec, a research and innovation hub focusing...

Quartet H2O LDD Actively Cooled Lateral Surgical Fiber Optic

Infrared surgical lasers, e.g., CTH:YAG @ 2100 nm and TM:YAG @ 2000 nm, are wonderful tools for minimally invasive surgery such as laser vaporization of hyperplastic prostate...

Wearable ‘Watches’ to Monitor Your Blood Pressure

What if there were a wearable fitness device that could monitor your blood pressure continuously, 24 hours a day? Unfortunately, blood pressure measurements currently require the use of a...

Glass Fibers with Potential Far Beyond Transmitting Light

Glass fibers do everything from connecting us to the Internet to enabling keyhole surgery by delivering light through an endoscope. But as versatile as today’s fiber optics are,...

Optical Fibers Bring New Medical Applications to Light

Many of today’s medical applications use high-quality silica optical fiber. Because a broad range of optical fibers is available to serve this market, users must carefully choose the...

LED Probes to Map the Brain

Tiny LEDs light up neural pathways.

A team of researchers at the University of Michigan (U-M), Ann Arbor, are using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as small as neurons to begin to unlock the secrets of neural...

Lasers: The Next Generation of Fetal Monitoring

Researchers have developed a novel monitoring system using optoacoustic technology to provide accurate, real-time measurement of cerebral venous blood oxygen saturation in fetuses during...

Best-in-Class Technologies for High Performance, Compliant Mobile Medical Devices

Portable and wearable healthcare devices represent growing, high volume markets for the medtech industry. Patient monitors are evolving from stationary...

Non-Contact, Light-Based Measurements for Medical Balloons and Catheters

One of the most prevalent measurement devices in a medical balloon or catheter manufacturing facility is the micrometer gauge. It is simple and inexpensive. But, this...

New Lens Design Dramatically Improves Lithotripsy

A team of mechanical and materials engineers at Duke University, Durham, NC, have devised a way to improve the efficiency of lithotripsy—the crushing of kidney stones using focused shock...

Managing Risk in Medical Connectors

Every day, medical device manufacturers are getting better and better at managing risk. They know they have to. Changes have been introduced into international regulatory schemes that impact device design...

Using Light to Restart Hearts

When heartbeats slip into an irregular, life-threatening rhythm, a pacemaker or defibrillator can jolt the heart back into rhythm. But because electricity can cause pain, tissue damage, and other side-effects, a...

Plastic Optic Fiber—An Evolving Technology

Plastic Optic Fiber (POF) is an established, continually evolving technology available since the early 1980s. From the outset, it was a technology not highly visible for years. At times, it was...

Fiber-Optic Pen Allows View into Children’s Brains

Scientists at the University of Washington, Seattle, say that for less than $100, they have designed a computer-interfaced drawing pad that can help scientists see inside the brains of...

R&D Roundup: August 2013

Student Device May Help Avoid Repeated Breast Cancer Surgeries

During a lumpectomy, surgeons can’t immediately tell whether all the cancer cells were removed. The excised tissue must be preserved and analyzed...

Optical Fiber Performance in High-Power Applications

Silica optical fibers are used more and more for delivering laser power in numerous medical applications. Many therapies require the reliable delivery of high laser power to ablate tissue....

Mini-Sensor Measures Magnetic Activity in Human Brain

A miniature atom-based magnetic sensor has passed an important research milestone by successfully measuring human brain activity. Experiments verified the sensor's potential for...

Design of a System for Real-Time Online Monitoring and Process Control

The analytical techniques currently available to monitor chemical and biochemical production processes are difficult to apply in real time. Recent advances in solid-state...

Light Source Enables Endoscope Miniaturization

Physical space constraints continue to impact advanced procedures such as single-incision laparoscopic surgery, robotic-assisted surgery, and other minimally invasive surgical procedures....