Patent ID: 9671301
Date: 2017-06-06
CPC Classifications: A61B,G01L

Claim:
1. A method of sensing pressure in a region of interest, comprising: (a) providing one or more sensor particles in said region, each of said sensor particles comprising: (i) a polymer support and (ii) a plurality of metallic particles operatively associated with said polymer support and one another, wherein said metallic particles sustain a plasmon upon excitation, and with said metallic particles configured so that the energy of said plasmon varies in response to pressure; (b) measuring a physical property of said metallic particles that varies in response to pressure; and then (c) determining the pressure in said region of interest from said detected physical property, wherein said measuring step (b) is carried out by: (i) exciting said sensor particles to produce emitted light therefrom; (ii) detecting a property of said emitted light, wherein said property varies in response to said energy of said plasmon; and wherein: said determining step (c) is carried out by determining the pressure in said region of interest from said detected property.