He was part of the team that fabricated the first optical fiber sensor by means of the layer-by-layer electrostatic self-assembly method in 1998 at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA. He is the author of around 200 scientific journal and conference publications, most of them related to optical fiber sensors based on nanostructured coatings. Francisco J. Arregui cooperates regularly with the scientific committees of several international conferences; he is an Associate Editor of the IEEE Sensors Journal and is currently editing a book about “Sensors based on nanostructured materials”.