Fiber Spectroscopic Sensing
Dr. Torsten FROSCH
Microfluidic on-chip spectroscopy setup.
Dr. Torsten FROSCH
Email: torsten.frosch@uni-jena.de
Phone: +49 3641-2-06221
Dr. Torsten Frosch is the head of the Fiber Spectroscopic Sensing Group at the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology and the Institute for Physical Chemistry at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena. He is a member of the DFG Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1076 AquaDiva, the DFG Research Unit DASIM, and the International Max Planck Research School for Global Biogeochemical Cycles in Jena.
The research interests of the group are concerned with innovative, miniaturized, optical fibers and cavities for chemical selective and highly sensitive spectroscopic analysis in environmental, pharmaceutical and biomedical areas. In particular, the new techniques Cavity Enhanced and Fiber Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (CERS and FERS) provide unique capabilities for chemo- and bioanalysis such as applicability in hydrous/biological environment as well as label-free, non-destructive, and simultaneous analysis and quantification of several analytes. Raman sensing in hollow-core optical fibers takes advantage of the efficient light-analyte-interaction and can be exploited for trace analysis of minimal sample amounts. One of our special interests is the spectral extension of low loss light guidance in hollow-core fibers. The development of novel double antiresonant hollow-core fibers provides light guidance with Gaussian-type mode quality in transmission windows spanning from the near infrared to the deep ultraviolet. These novel fibers are extremely promising for our research in biospectroscopy.
Another research focus of our group is spectroscopic gas sensing with strong links to the SFB/CRC 1076 AquaDiva. Various interdisciplinary research projects are concerned with environmental analysis and eco-physiological studies. Enhanced Raman spectroscopy is also applied for the analysis of gaseous and volatile disease markers in breath for non-invasive early stage disease diagnosis.
Research Areas
Torsten Frosch’s research interests address the development of highly sensitive and miniaturized Raman spectroscopic sensing techniques and instrumentation for interdisciplinary research in the areas of biomedical, pharmaceutical and environmental analysis. Research thrusts include:
- Novel hollow-core fibers for low-loss light guidance in the visible and ultraviolet spectral range
- Development of cavity enhanced and fiber enhanced Raman spectroscopy (CERS and FERS)
- Ultrasensitive FERS analysis of pharmaceutical drugs and biomolecules
- CERS multi-gas sensing for environmental monitoring and investigation of biogeochemical processes
- Chemical imaging of biological cells and pharmaceuticals
- Raman difference spectroscopy for investigation of drug-target interactions
Teaching Fields
Dr. Frosch is actively involved in teaching physical chemistry courses for chemistry and pharmacy students. He contributes to the education and support of doctoral candidates with lectures in analytical methods at the International Max Planck Research School for Global Biogeochemical Cycles. His teaching is devoted to the early involvement of students and young scientists in state-of-the-art research.
Research Methods
The laboratories led by Torsten Frosch, and the infrastructure at the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology, offer a wide range of spectroscopic methods, different lasers and Raman spectrometers as well as a fiber drawing tower facility for the development of novel hollow fibers. Several miniaturized and home-built Raman sensors are developed for interdisciplinary research and are applied for onsite analysis.
![Characterization of fuel gases with fiber-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (Cover from [11]).](https://www.acp.uni-jena.de/acpmedia/pics-arbitrary-formats/frosch-research-highlight.png?height=583&width=680)
Recent Research Results
A special focus is on the design of novel optical hollowcore fibers for low-loss light guidance in the visible and ultraviolet spectral range and their application for ultrasensitive analysis of pharmaceutical drugs [1-6] and biogenic gas compositions [7-10]. Fiber enhanced Raman spectroscopy (FERS) provides unique capabilities for chemoand bioanalysis, such as applicability in hydrous/biological environment as well as label-free, non-destructive, and simultaneous analysis and quantification of several analytes. FERS has been developed as new point-of-care analytical technique for personalized treatment of intensive care patients in close cooperation with the university hospital. FERS is also developed for breath analysis, i.e. the quantification of gaseous and volatile biomarkers for non-invasive early stage disease diagnosis.
![Direct and simultaneous multi-gas quantification combining 13CO2 and 12CO2 as well as 18O2 and 16O2 in one instrument, can provide an alternative means to comprehensively investigate plant metabolism, and disentangle photorespiration and photosynthesis (Cover from [8]).](https://www.acp.uni-jena.de/acpmedia/pics-arbitrary-formats/frosch-highlight-fers-18o2-cover.jpeg?height=905&width=680)
Another research focus of our group is Raman spectroscopic sensing of biogenic gases for the investigation of environmental processes and biogeochemical cycles with strong cooperative links to the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) AquaDiva and the International Max Planck Research School for Global Biogeochemical Cycles (IMPRS BGC) [7-13]. By analyzing the exchange of a suite of biogenic gases rapidly and in line with help of cavity-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (CERS), we were able to characterize climate sensitive microbial methanogenesis [7] and use isotopic labelled gases to trace specific pathways [8]. With help of hyperspectral Raman imaging we investigate pharmaceutical active agents and test counterfeit and substandard pharmaceuticals [14-17].
[1] Yan et al., ACS Photonics 4, 138 (2017).
[2] Domes et al., Anal. Chem. 89, 9997 (2017).
[3] Yan et al., Anal. Meth. 10, 586 (2018).
[4] Yan et al. Anal. Chem. 90, 13243 (2018).
[5] Azkune et al., J. Lightwave Technol. 37, 2981 (2019).
[6] Wolf et al., Molecules 24, 4512 (2019).
[7] Knebl et al., Anal. Chem. 92, 12564 (2020).
[8] Knebl et al., Anal. Chem. 91, 7562 (2019).
[9] Knebl et al., Trends in Analytical Chemistry 103, 230 (2018).
[10] Yan et al., Anal. Chem. 89, 12269 (2017).
[11] Sieburg et al., Anal. and Bioanal. Chem. 411, 7399 (2019).
[12] Sieburg et al., Analyst 143, 1358 (2018).
[13] Sieburg et al., Analyst 142, 3360 (2017).
[14] Frosch et al., Molecules 24, 3229 (2019).
[15] Frosch et al., Molecules 24, 4381 (2019).
[16] Domes et al., Molecules 25, 1866 (2020).
[17] Frosch et al., Nanophotonics 9, 19 (2020).