Protective coating and hyperthermal atomic oxygen texturing of optical fibers used for blood glucose monitoring
First Claim
1. A sensor comprising a single solid light-conducting fiber having a textured surface site consisting of a textured distal end first having a non-contiguous protective coating deposited thereon which is treated by being placed in a vacuum and then subject to directed hyperthermal beams comprising oxygen ions or atoms, wherein said textured distal end comprises said non-contiguous protective coating thereon and cones separated from each other by an amount which is about 1 micron.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is a method of producing cones and pillars on polymethylmethacralate (PMMA) optical fibers for glucose monitoring. The method, in one embodiment, consists of using electron beam evaporation to deposit a non-contiguous thin film of aluminum on the distal ends of the PMMA fibers. The partial coverage of aluminum on the fibers is randomly, but rather uniformly distributed across the end of the optical fibers. After the aluminum deposition, the ends of the fibers are then exposed to hyperthermal atomic oxygen, which oxidizes the areas that are not protected by aluminum. The resulting PMMA fibers have a greatly increased surface area and the cones or pillars are sufficiently close together that the cellular components in blood are excluded from passing into the valleys between the cones and pillars. The optical fibers are then coated with appropriated surface chemistry so that they can optically sense the glucose level in the blood sample than that with conventional glucose monitoring.
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Citations
27 Claims
- 1. A sensor comprising a single solid light-conducting fiber having a textured surface site consisting of a textured distal end first having a non-contiguous protective coating deposited thereon which is treated by being placed in a vacuum and then subject to directed hyperthermal beams comprising oxygen ions or atoms, wherein said textured distal end comprises said non-contiguous protective coating thereon and cones separated from each other by an amount which is about 1 micron.
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10. A method of producing a solid light-conducting fiber used in the analysis of a blood comprising the steps of:
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a) selecting at least one single solid light-conducting fiber having a point of attachment and a distal end; b) depositing a protective coating on said distal end of said at least one light-conducting fiber; c) placing said at least one light-conducting fiber having said protective coating on said distal end in a vacuum source; and d) subjecting said distal end to directed hyperthermal beams comprising oxygen ions or atoms. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method of analyzing for an analyte in a fluid comprising the steps of:
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providing a single solid light-conducting fiber with a point of attachment and having a distal end with a protective coating deposited thereon and wherein said protective coating is further prepared by being placed in a vacuum and then subjected to directed hyperthermal beams comprising oxygen ions or atoms, said distal end further having an analyte-responsive reagent deposited thereon; bringing a droplet of the fluid containing said analyte and having an initial sampling volume of less than 5 microliters into contact with said distal end of said site, so as to produce a physical or chemical response by interaction of said reagent with said analyte, said response being detectable by a change in characteristics of a light beam; transmitting a light beam from a light source into said point of contact and into said distal end; and analyzing said light beam reflected from said distal end for said change, said change being correlative with presence of said analyte in the fluid. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27)
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Specification