Micromachined "Side-Viewing" Optical Sensor Probe for Detection of Esophageal Cancers.

In this paper, we report the design, fabrication and testing of a new miniaturized optical sensor probe with "side viewing" capability for oblique incidence diffuse reflectance spectrometry. The sensor probe consists of a lithographically patterned polymer waveguides chip and two micromachined positioning substrates and source/collection fibers to achieve 45° light incidence and collection of spatially resolved diffuse reflectance. Diffuse reflectance of human esophageal surface has been successfully measured for differentiation of cancerous tissues from normal ones.