Nanosized sensors enable the study of chemical and biochemical processes at a level and in dimensions that may not have been envisioned some 20 years ago. Fueled by their inherent small size and the unusual optical, magnetic, catalytic, and mechanical properties of nanoparticles, remarkable progress has been made in recent years in the development and utilization of nanosensors and optical nanotechnology will further widen the field. However, the design of new sensors requires new materials, new methods for their characterization, new optical sensing schemes, new approaches for creating...

This book focuses on a research field that is rapidly emerging as one of the most promising ones for the global optics and photonics community: the "lab-on-fiber" technology. Inspired by the well-established "lab on-a-chip" concept, this new technology essentially envisages novel and highly functionalized devices completely integrated into a single optical fiber for both communication and sensing applications.
Based on the R&D experience of some of the world's leading authorities in the fields of optics, photonics, nanotechnology, and material science, this book provides a broad and...