Optical Microfiber Sensors: Sensing Mechanisms, and Recent Advances

Optical microfibers (MF), as a connection between fiber optics and nanotechnology, can realize enhanced light-matter/environment interactions, which benefit for optical sensing applications. In this paper, we introduce the fundamental working mechanisms of MF-based optical sensors and review their recent progress and status. We also discuss the challenges and opportunities of the MF sensors and provide some clues for future work.