This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 10801, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Author and Conference Committee lists.

DNA and collagen functionalized with photosensitive molecules for applications in photonics Ana-Maria MANEA-SAGHIN1*, François KAJZAR1,2 1Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science, University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Polizu Street No 1, 011061, Bucharest, Romania 2Laboratoire de Chimie, CNRS, Université Claude Bernard, ENS-Lyon, 46 Allée d'Italie, 69364 Lyon cedex 07, France *corresponding author: Ana-Maria MANEA-SAGHIN, am_manea@yahoo.com Abstract Limited mineral materials resources associated with their pollution problems push at present the interest of scientists onto biological materials which originate from renewable resources and are biodegradable. Among them the biopolymers like deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and collagen show very interesting properties as possible matrices for active molecules, being able to replace synthetic polymers [1] and bring more. These biopolymers are extracted from the waste of food processing industry and their sources are practically unlimited. However, their degradation time, if unprotected, is much faster than that of synthetic polymers in similar conditions. On the other hand, the scientists turn also their attention to natural photosensitive materials, which can be extracted from flowers or fruits, like anthocyanines showing some interesting photosensitive properties for photonics applications. In this presentation we will describe and discuss the results of our study on bio-active molecules present in the nature made materials like: green tea, sea buckthorn, cranberries and blueberries extracts. It is well known that they exhibit a significant antioxidant activity. In this context, the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and collagen were functionalized with vegetable extracts in aqueous solution. Bovine collagen is extracted from the skin of dead cows, sterilized and liquefied. The obtained material is soluble in water and form good optical quality thin films by spin coating and solution casting. The optical properties were characterized by UV –VIS spectroscopy [2, 3]. The nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of functionalized thin films were studied by the optical third harmonic generation (THG) technique at 1064.2 nm fundamental wavelength. The results of spectroscopic studies and THG measurements indicate that the studied complexes are promising material for biophotonics. [1] Grote J., Biopolymer materials show promise for electronics and photonics applications, SPIE newsroom, DOI 10.1117/2.1200805.1082(2008). [2] A-M Manea*, F Kajzar, I Rau, A Meghea, Fluorescence, spectroscopic and NLO properties of green tea extract in deoxyribonucleic acid, Optical Materials, 36 (1), ISSN: 0925-3467, 2013, pp. 140-145, WOS:000327232600027. [3] A-M Manea*, I Rau, F Kajzar, A Meghea, Preparation, linear and NLO properties of DNA-CTMA-SBE complexes, Proc. of SPIE 8901, 2013, ISBN 9780819497703, ISSN: 0277-786X, art. no. 89010S, doi 10.1117/12.2029326. Acknowledgement The authors acknowledge the financial support of Romanian Ministry of Education, Research, Youth and Sports, through the UEFISCDI organism, under Contract Number 7/2018, Code Project PN-III-P1-1.1-PD-2016-0580.

Direct printing technique has become indispensable in flexible electronics and low cost sensor applications. It has transformed into an enabling technology for many flexible devices. However, it is not very well explored for printing optical materials. In this work, a micro-dispense printer for printing polymeric optical waveguides was custom-built. It was employed to develop a simple method to couple light into printed optical interconnects. It was also used to apply a voltage bias during printing and drying of electro-optic polymer (SEO110) to pole the SEO110 in-situ with the goal of eliminating the need for traditional high temperature contact poling. With this in-situ poling method, electro-optic effect in SEO110 was demonstrated.

With an aim to fabricate wavelength tunable thin laser films, monolithic DNA complex layers including azo and laser dyes were prepared. Azo dyes, DO3 and DR1, were incorporated into the complex layer as guests dispersed in the host. A laser dye, Rhodamine 6G was added to the DO3 doped film by immersion method, demonstrating amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) from the single layered film under the excitation at 532nm. Threshold energy density was determined to be 2mJ/cm² which was the twice of the counterpart without DO3. It was also found that photo-response of the azos in DNA complex was very weak via experiments of photoinduced birefringence and photoinduced transparency. Instead, a blend of the complex and a PMMA based copolymer with DR1 side chain showed strong photo-isomerization response, which will be applicable to dye doping for laser action.

Many carbon-based nanomaterials exhibit nonlinear optical response under intense laser radiation what makes them promising candidates for laser protection devices. They strongly attenuate intense laser light, while exhibiting high transmittance at low irradiation levels. In literature this behavior is mainly related to nonlinear absorption and nonlinear scattering. C₆₀ and MWCNT are carbon-based materials with high optical limiting efficiency. It is generally believed that the main optical limiting mechanism of MWCNT suspensions is NL scattering whereas C₆₀ solutions show mainly nonlinear absorption. In the case of MWCNT we observed a strong scattering signal arising near the nonlinear threshold when tested with nanosecond laser pulses at 532 nm, which is in agreement with results in literature. C₆₀ exhibits only weak NL scattering and their OL behavior is due to NL absorption in the intermediate NL regime. In addition, we observed a diffraction pattern for high input energies, induced by local refractive index changes.

This article describes the combination of the polymer material polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and fiber-optic sensors for monitoring the heart rate (HR) of the human body. We proposed, created, and encapsulated into PDMS two type of fiberoptic sensors based on the interferometric and Bragg grating principle. Both above-mentioned fiber-optic sensors we compared with the conventional ECG monitoring system. Measurement was performed in the laboratory conditions with the group of 6 volunteers with their written contest. Acquired data were compared by the Bland-Altman method. The result presented in this short article confirms that fiber-optic sensors can be used as an alternative to conventional ECG.

The article reports the development of invisible cryptography writing and latent fingerprint detection techniques using upconversion emission of rare earth doped ceramic for the application in forensic science. The upconversion (UC) emission studies on Yb³⁺/Er+³⁺ co-doped Sb₂O₃-WO₃-Li₂O (SWL) ceramics under 980 nm laser excitation has been done. Due to its intense green and red visible emission, the ceramic finds a great application in developing latent fingermark detection using powder dusting technique. In addition to fingerprint detection, the present ceramic is a promising candidate for coding cyphers in invisible manner. An observed comparison between UV vs. NIR excited fingerprint images shows that fingerprint images exposed by NIR excitation have more clear edges than the UV excitations. Hence the current upconversion emission studies on the present ceramic samples reveal its potential application in forensic science, security writing and cryptography information (cypher).

This article focuses on the analysis of the selected optical coupler parameter which have been thermal stressed for 30 weeks at temperature 95 °C ± 5 °C. Optical couplers with 10:90, 1:99 and 50:50 dividing ratio were tested. A total of 6 optical couplers were tested. Measurements were made for two wavelengths 1310 nm and 1550 nm. The observed parameter was the insertion loss. The insertion loss is very important parameter because the fiber-optic passive components (such as optical couplers) disrupt signal transmissions as the continuous core of the optical fiber carrying the signal mates with the component in a manner that causes some amount of scattering and reflection of light waves. The degree to which the signal has been depleted is described as insertion loss, which is the undesired attenuation of the signal measured in decibels (dB).

This paper presents the comparison of fibre-optic Bragg Grating Sensor with the commercially available probes for heart sounds measurement based on microphones. The analysis of the sensitivity and specificity was carried out to assess the efficacy of the individual measuring probes. Since fibre-optic sensing uses light in optical fibre rather than electricity, it solves the limitations of electrical sensors such as transmission loss and susceptibility to electromagnetic interference (EMI). Experimental results have shown that Fibre-Optic Bragg Grating Sensor significantly outperforms the devices using the microphones. Moreover, the sensor embedded in polydimethylsiloxane polymer and is fixed on the thorax by means of elastic belt. The material is biocompatible and immune to electromagnetic interference, which is major advantage for the healthcare environment. The probe dimensions are small; therefore, it would be convenient for the patient and easily implemented into clinical practice. Nevertheless, the signal processing methods must be applied to separate the desired signal from the environmental noise.