A Reconfigurable Nanophotonics Platform for Sub-Millisecond, Deep Brain Neural Stimulation

Understand

Nanophotonics provides the ability to rapidly and precisely reconfigure light beams on a compact platform.

• Infrared nanophotonic devices are widely used in data communications to overcome traditional bandwidth limitations of electrical interconnects.
• Nanophotonic devices also hold promise for use in biological applications that require visible light, but this has remained technically elusive due to the challenges of reconfiguring and guiding light at these smaller dimensions.
• In neuroscience, for example, there is a need for implantable optical devices to optogenetically stimulate neurons across deep brain regions with the speed and precision matching state-of-the-art recording probes.