Highly sensitive skin-like wearable optical sensor for human physiological signals monitoring

Abstract

Pusle signal is an important information related to the cardiovascular system. Long-term and accurate pulse monitoring is of great significance. Wearable fiber-optic sensors show great promise in this field. In this work, a highly sensitive wearable skin-like optical pressure sensor for human physiological signals monitoring is demonstrated by embedding bent fiber in a silica gel film. By employing small-core fiber (SCF) and fabric, the skin-like optical pressure sensor achieves high sensitivity (2.2 kPa−1), fast response (5 ms), low detection limit (4 Pa) and remarkable stability (over 40,000 cycles). As a proof of concept, monitoring of pulse from the most parts of human body and finger motion have been demonstrated based on the proposed sensor through the power variation of the output light. Moreover, abnormal pulse signals in unhealthy states are demonstrated. This novel photonics-based sensor provides a new basis for developing high-performance wearable medical devices.