CU Boulder fluid-based scanning factors to higher views of mind exercise

16 Oct 2025

Electrowetting prism steers laser with out shifting mechanical components.

A venture on the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) has demonstrated a novel approach to steer lasers at excessive speeds for imaging functions.

The examine, printed in Optics Express, used a fluid-based scanner constructed round an electrowetting prism, as a substitute for standard mechanical parts.

“Most laser scanners today use mechanical mirrors to steer beams of light,” stated Darwin Quiroz from CU Boulder.

“Our approach replaces that with a transmissive, non-mechanical device that’s smaller, lower-power and potentially easier to scale down into miniature imaging systems.”

Smaller and non-mechanical methods to scan lasers ought to assist meet the calls for of contemporary fast imaging and fluorescence microscopy techniques, the place selections are sometimes restricted by weight, measurement and energy necessities, famous the crew.

These calls for are additional magnified with the rising curiosity in miniature microscopy for in vivo imaging of neuronal exercise and stimulation.

Electrowetting optics may very well be a solution, utilizing an electrical discipline to alter the curvature of a conductive liquid and so management the habits of a laser beam on the liquid floor. This precept has been put to make use of in functions equivalent to lidar, however earlier work with electrowetting prisms was restricted to sluggish scanning speeds or one-dimensional beam steering.

Transform the examine of PTSD or Alzheimer’s illness

The venture constructed on earlier CU Boulder research into utilizing such one-dimensional electrowetting scanners in a microscope, and in addition how you can make use of the identical precept in an OCT platform to enhance examination of the attention or the center.

The new gadget includes a cylindrical glass tube 5 millimeters tall full of two immiscible liquids, deionized water and a cyclohexane. Four individually accessible electrodes across the outdoors of the cylinder management the lean of the interface between the liquids, so a laser passing via the cylinder from one fluid to the opposite will be deflected by totally different quantities when it crosses the slanted interface.

In trials, the gadget demonstrated two-dimensional scanning at speeds from 25 to 75 Hz when constructed right into a two-photon laser scanning microscope. Successful imaging of 5-micron targets is a milestone towards making the units sensible for real-world imaging, famous the venture.

“A big challenge was learning how to drive the device in a way that produces linear, predictable scanning without distortion,” commented Quiroz. “We discovered that the prism has resonant modes like standing waves that we could actually leverage for scanning at higher speeds.”

Since electrowetting prisms are compact and vitality environment friendly, they may very well be built-in into miniature microscopes sufficiently small to take a seat on high of a dwell animal’s head, serving to the examine of mind operate in dwelling topics.

“Imagine being able to watch brain activity in real-time while an animal runs through a maze,” stated Quiroz. “That’s the kind of in vivo imaging this technology could enable. It could transform how we study neurological conditions like PTSD or Alzheimer’s disease.”