SPECIAL SESSION #04

Francesco Baldini

Institute of Applied Physics "Nello Carrara" - National Research Council, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

• f.baldini@ifac.cnr.it

Cosimo Trono

Institute of Applied Physics "Nello Carrara" - National Research Council, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

• c.trono@ifac.cnr.it

Thanks to their miniaturization, ease of handling, lack of electrical contacts, and immunity to electromagnetic interference, optical fibre sensors offer a versatile solution across diverse fields, including medical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and food analysis. Their unique combination of features, together with capabilities for multiparameter detection and distributed monitoring, allows measurement of physical or chemical parameters that would otherwise be challenging or impossible.

This special session will bring together researchers, students, developers, and end-users of optical sensors to explore the latest advances, emerging trends, and both current and future applications of optical fibre sensing.

Key areas of focus include, though are not confined to:

• fibre optic for biomedical application;
• fibre optic sensors for wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal energy systems;
• fibre optic monitoring of energy storage systems (batteries, supercapacitors);
• structural health monitoring of sustainable infrastructure using fibre optic;
• fibre optic sensors for environmental and climate monitoring;
• fibre optic sensors for food analysis;
• new design of fibre optic sensors;
• optical fibre sensor networks and distributed sensors.

Dr. Francesco Baldini is Research Director at the “Nello Carrara” Institute of Applied Physics (IFAC) of the National Research Council in Florence, Italy.
His activity has been mainly devoted to the design and development of optical sensors and optical sensing platforms with particular attention to chemical and biochemical parameters. Author of more than 200 publications in International Journals, in scientific books and in International Conference Proceedings, he delivered more than 30 plenary/invited talks at international conferences. He is/was coordinator and/or responsible of many international and national projects in the field of optical chemical and biochemical sensing. Appointed in 2009 fellow of SPIE for “his achievements in biological and chemical sensing in biomedicine”, in 2023 became also fellow of the European Optical Society. He was President of the Italian Society of Optics and Photonics (SIOF) for the biennium 2015-2016.

Dr. Cosimo Trono is a Senior Researcher at the “Nello Carrara” Institute of Applied Physics (IFAC) of the National Research Council in Florence, Italy.
His research focuses on optics, photonics, and sensor science, with a consolidated specialization in fiber optic sensing and biosensing. He has extensive experience in the design, fabrication, and application of fiber grating based devices, including long period gratings (LPGs) for biosensing and fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) for structural health monitoring. His work also includes the development of fluorescence-based measurement methodologies for optical biosensing, integrating microfluidics, tailored optical architectures, and advanced signal processing techniques.
He is currently a contract professor at the University of Florence, teaching Optoelectronic Systems, and has been an invited lecturer at national and international schools and workshops. He serves as coordinator and research unit leader in several national and international projects.
Dr. Trono is the author of more than 150 scientific publications in peer‑reviewed journals, books, and conference proceedings, and he is the inventor of two international patents.