Imaging and stimulating neural systems with twisted light
Abstract
The goal of the proposal is to establish instrumentation to enable imaging and stimulation of living systems, in particular neural cells, with twisted light. Twisted light is the colloquial name for photons with orbital angular momentum, which possess unique properties including delocalization along a ring, and as the name suggests, angular momentum that changes the interaction of the photon with materials. The proposed instrumentation will be integrated into an existing microscope system. It will allow us to convert a two photon microscope illumination beam to be operated with photons with orbital angular momentum, and to read out resulting fluorescence characteristics in detail using fluorescence lifetime imaging. Thus the instrument will allow us to simultaneously image the impact of twisted light on the mechanical structure of the cell, in particular the actin cytoskeleton and microtubule network. The instrumentation will also include additional beam steering for a stimulating twisted light beam, which will allow us to stimulate points in the whole field of view with delocalized twisted light photons. The research enabled by the instrumentation will focus on the use of twisted light to sense and actuate the performance of living systems, particularly networks of neural cells. The PI’s laboratory has demonstrated its capability to generate and detect twisted light, and has the staff, supplies, funding, and expertise to integrate and operate the instrumentation and use this novel tool to its fullest potential for the expected 10-15 year instrumentation lifetime. The system will be housed in the Losert laboratory in the Physical Sciences Complex.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Feb 29, 2024
- Source ID
- FA95502310065
Entities
People
- Wolfgang Losert
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Air Force
- University of Maryland