Fiber optic fluorosensor for oxygen measurement

In this paper, we report a fiber optic oxygen sensor using fluorescence and its application to clinical examinations. It is based on fluorescence quenching. The quenching ratio of fluorescence is proportional to oxygen partial pressure by Stern-Volmer's formula in which oxygen concentration is estimated from measured emission intensity. We fabricated a microscopic luminous probe using a Solvent Green 5 doped plastic optical fiber coupler. The probes were demonstrated to have certain advantages; for example they can be operated in both liquid and gas phases. And also, they are stable with regard to pH and flow velocities. As a clinical application, the probe can reliably measure oxygen concentrations of whole blood in vivo. Moreover, we have clarified various characteristics of these probes.