BRAIN-MACHINE INTERFACE BASED ON PHOTONIC NEURAL PROBE ARRAYS
Method and apparatus for illuminating and imaging tissue is provided. In one version, the method includes illuminating a volume of a tissue with photons from a three-dimensional array of optical emitters inserted into the tissue. In another version, the method includes detecting photons from a volume of a tissue using a three-dimensional array of optical detectors inserted into the tissue. A probe device for illuminating tissue and/or detecting photons emitted from tissue includes elongated microsized probes containing optical emitters and optical detectors in a three dimensional array.
1 . A method for examining a tissue, comprising
illuminating a volume of a tissue with photons from a three-dimensional array of optical emitters inserted into the tissue.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the tissue is a neural tissue.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the neural tissue is prepared by optogenetic methods.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the array comprises elongated microsized probes comprising the optical emitters.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the optical resolution of the array is about 200 μm in at least one dimension of the volume.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the photons are produced from a source that comprises an emission multiplexer.
7 . A method for examining a tissue, comprising
detecting photons from a volume of a tissue using a three-dimensional array of optical detectors inserted into the tissue.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the tissue is a neural tissue.
9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the array comprises elongated microsized probes comprising the optical detectors.
10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the photons are produced by illuminating the tissue volume.
11 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the optical resolution of the array is about 200 μm in at least one dimension of the volume.
12 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the photons are produced by illuminating the tissue volume using a three-dimensional array of optical emitters inserted into the tissue.
13 . A device for examining a tissue, comprising
elongated microsized probes, each probe comprising one or more optical emitters and/or one or more optical detectors, wherein the probes are arranged to form a three-dimensional array of the one or more optical emitters and/or a three-dimensional array of the one or more optical detectors.
14 . The device of claim 13 , wherein the probes have cross-sectional diameters of about 10 μm or less.
15 . The device of claim 13 , wherein the one or more optical emitters and the one or more optical detectors are arranged along the length of the probes.
16 . The device of claim 13 , further comprising one or more optical sources optically connected to the probes.
17 . The device of claim 16 , wherein the one or more optical sources comprise an emission multiplexer.
18 . The device of claim 13 , wherein the one or more optical emitters comprise one or more waveguide terminals.
19 . The device of claim 13 , wherein the one or more optical emitters comprise one or more micro-ring resonators, photonic crystal resonators, nanobeam cavities, diffraction gratings, waveguide-coupled gratings, or etched, chip-integrated 45-degree mirrors, or a combination thereof.
20 . The device of claim 13 , wherein the one or more optical detectors are one or more Si photodetectors, Ge photodetectors, or grating-coupled detectors, or a combination thereof.
21 . The device of claim 13 , wherein the optical resolution of the array of emitters and/or the array of detectors is about 200 μm.
22 . A system comprising the device of claim 13 and further comprising one or more optical sources optically connected to the probes.
23 . The system of claim 22 , wherein the one or more optical sources comprise an emission multiplexer.