Improving SERS diagnostics with hollow-core negative curvature fibers

When surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is applied in a medical diagnostics context where an endoscopy is involved - such as in the lung - the performance of the technique depends in part on the performance of the optical fibers used in the endoscopic probe. Fibers are needed that reduce or ideally eliminate the background Raman signal and that minimize signal attenuation, or loss, as the signal is transported to the detector. To be most useful, these fibers must have a small cross section. Hollow-core negative curvature fibers show promise for delivering on those performance goals.