MRI: Acquisition of a Spatial Light Modulator System for Research and Education in Optical Materials, Bioscience, and Human-Computer Interaction

非技术描述：该主要研究仪器奖支持购买空间光调制器系统，用于光学材料、生物科学和人机交互等跨学科领域的本科生和教职员工的研究和培训。空间光调制器是一种数字光学投影仪，允许用户逐个像素地创建光波。这种定制设计的光场具有在小至百万分之一米的距离内变化的特征，使新泽西大学材料科学学院的研究人员能够探测作为分子马达的光响应材料，或在生物科学中，有选择地照亮神经元，研究它们的连通性。空间光调制器还使计算机科学学院能够构建增强现实系统，以开发计算机与其用户之间的视觉界面。空间光调制器的技术影响跨越了所有信息显示模式，包括手机屏幕、数字投影仪和平板显示器。因此，新泽西大学理工科和教育系的学生可以通过空间光调制器系统获得广泛的培训机会。这些活动全年与教师密切合作，为学生提供宝贵的机会接触到一种新兴技术，该技术正在迅速推进视觉信息的显示和感知。技术描述：完整的系统由光源、空间光调制器和光投影光学器件组成。中心部件是硅基液晶空间光调制器。光源可以互换，用于特定的研究任务。对于光学材料研究，光源是蓝光二极管泵浦的固体激光器。这使得研究人员能够利用快速可重新配置的光场来照明新型光响应材料，最终为具有特定应用的光机械响应的材料提供设计理论基础。对于生物科学，来源包括蓝色和近红外激光。这种蓝色光源被用于神经科学研究，以精确定位和光刺激多个细胞部位，从而加深对神经微电路的理解。在细菌生物化学研究中，红外光源被用来光学捕获和操纵细菌，这是解开它们的信号转导系统的第一步。在人机交互方面，红色半导体激光器为物体的光学传感和增强现实系统生成投影全息图提供了可定制的结构光图案。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Non-Technical Description:This Major Research Instrumentation award supports acquisition of a spatial light modulator system for research and training for undergraduate students and faculty in the interdisciplinary fields of optical materials, bioscience, and human-computer interaction. A spatial light modulator is a digital optical projector that allows the user to create a light wave on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Such custom-designed light fields have features that vary over distances as small as one-millionth of a meter, allowing College of New Jersey researchers in materials science to probe light-responsive materials that act as molecular motors, or in bioscience, to selectively illuminate neurons to study their connectivity. The spatial light modulator also enables computer science faculty to construct augmented reality systems for the development of visual interfaces between computers and their users. The technological impact of spatial light modulators spans all modes of information display, including cellphone screens, digital projectors and flat screen displays. Consequently, College of New Jersey students in science, engineering, and education are immersed in a broad range of training opportunities with the spatial light modulator system. These activities occur in close partnership with faculty on a year-round basis, giving students a valuable exposure to an emerging technology that is rapidly advancing the display and perception of visual information.Technical Description:The complete system is comprised of a light source, the spatial light modulator, and the light projection optics. The central component is the liquid crystal-on-silicon spatial light modulator. The light source can be interchanged for specific research tasks. For optical materials research, the source is a blue-emitting diode pumped solid state laser. This enables researchers to illuminate novel photoresponsive materials with rapidly reconfigurable light fields, ultimately providing the design rationale for materials with application-specific photo-mechanical response. For bioscience, the sources include a blue and near-infrared laser. The blue source is used in neuroscience research to precisely target and photoexcite multiple cellular sites, which leads to a deeper understanding of neural microcircuitry. In bacterial biochemistry research, the infrared source is used to optically trap and manipulate bacteria, the first step towards unraveling their signal transduction systems. For human-computer interaction, a red diode laser provides customizable structured light patterns for the optical sensing of objects and the generation of projected holograms for augmented reality systems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.