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Sensory, motor, and cognitive operations involve the coordinated action of large neuronal populations. To facilitate the study of how neural circuits are formed, function and evolve, there is a pressing need for tools that allow the measurement and manipulation of neuronal firing patterns from large populations of neurons. Imaging and stimulating neurons optically, rather than electrically, holds tremendous promise due to the cellular selectivity and high spatial and temporal resolutions of the technique. However, available technologies still fail to provide holistic insight into how patterns of electrical activity in the brain give rise to thought, sensation, and action. The most capable all-optical systems incorporate Computer-Generated Holography (CGH) using Spatial Light Modulators (SLMs) that sculpt light to address ensembles of neurons simultaneously and with single-cell precision. A primary bottleneck of holographic tools is the slow switching speed (~3ms) of commercially available SLMs based on liquid crystal technology, which constrains the bandwidth and throughput of the optical neural interface. We propose high-speed Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) based SLMs capable of switching faster than 100 μs, enabling a significant increase in throughput, and opening the door to optical neural interfaces with the temporal precision to mimic naturally occurring neuronal signaling.
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