Internship - Development of surface plasmon biosensor based on a specialty optical fiber

Created in 2007, ALPhANOV is a technological centre member of the excellence cluster ‘Route des lasers et des hyper frequences’ and has today more than 95 employees. ALPhANOV targets the development of cutting-edge and innovative solutions, products, and techniques in the field of optics and laser technology for a variety of different markets, such as aeronautics, aerospace, medicine, luxury and military. Located in the Institute of Optics of Aquitaine, ALPhANOV is a key player in the field of optics and lasers in the Nouvelle Aquitaine region.
ALPhANOV is well reputed for its capacity to identify key-innovation technologies promoting, all along his history, the creation of new companies and spin-off (20 since the creation).

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Description of the environment

The internship will be realized at XLIM within the “Fiber Photonics” team, who has large expertise in fabricating specialty optical fibers, and in developing fiber based devices for sensing biomarkers in fluids. The team is collaborating with ALPhANOV and L2N laboratory in Troyes, on the development of a prototype unit of a SPR biosensor (based on a free space configuration). This work will be conducted within this environment.

Internship topic

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) based sensors are commonly used to detect and analyze chemical and biomolecular interactions in real time. The SPR sensors are based on optical wave - surface plasmon - analyte (liquid) interactions. They are extremely sensitive to small variations in the refractive index of the analyte, making them very suitable for detecting small molecules (very low molecular weight) in very low concentration (pico-molar). There are different devices for performing these measurements. For example, the most efficient method for SPR sensing is based on the measurement of the Goos – Hänchen shift (spatial shift of the optical beam during reflection with the SPR layer) leading to outstanding performances in sensing biomarkers in biological fluids. A unit prototype of this device is currently developed at XLIM with the research and technology organization ALPhANOV and L2N laboratory (in Troyes).

Nevertheless, most of SPR biosensors are mainly based on free-space optical setups leading to careful alignments (required for exciting the plasmon wave) and stabilities issues that could limit their use in real-life applications.

The objective of this Master2 internship is to develop a compact, robust, and easy to use (without free-space alignments) SPR biosensor integrated within a specialty optical fiber. In particular, we aim to specially design and fabricate an optical fiber enabling the measure of phase variation (of the propagated light) induced by SPR sensing for optimizing the sensitivity. The first part of the internship will be dedicated to the conception of the fiber based SPR biosensor (including the design of a novel fiber), then, depending on the progress, the fiber will be fabricated followed by the realization of the SPR biosensor.

This work could be followed by a CIFRE Ph. D. thesis (depending on the progress) in the prospect to fully develop (up to a demonstrator unit) the SPR-fiber biosensors and to demonstrate its relevance through biosensing demonstration in collaboration with the biologist researchers at CAPTuR Laboratory (Inserm, CHU Limoges, University of Limoges).

The main objectives of the internship are:

• to conceive and to realize a novel design of fiber based SPR sensor

• to acquire the scientific background on specialty optical fibers and on SPR sensing.

• to conduct numerical simulation of SPR sensing experiments in optofluidic fibers

• to improve the current performances of our biosensing optofluidic-fiber probes

• to demonstrate the detection of a biomarker in biological fluid

• to write an internship report.

The candidate is expected to pursue a master degree or equivalent (engineer) in photonics, physics, or bioengineering. Knowledge of optical fiber science and technology will be appreciated, as well as in plasmonic science.

The candidate must be highly motivated for experimental work. A high degree of autonomy and good ability to organize the works, as well as good communication skills in English are required.