Mamoru HASHIMOTO^*, Kazuaki YAMADA and Tsutomu ARAKI

Department of Mechanical Science and Bioengineering, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Machikaneyama 1-3, Toyonaka, Osaka, 560-8531, Japan

(Received September 24, 2004; Accepted November 22, 2004)

We have proposed a method to control the three-dimensional electric field in the focus of an optical microscope using two non-twisted liquid crystal spatial light modulators, and to detect the molecular orientation of a single molecule. The three-dimensional electric field is generated by focusing the beam with two dimensional spatial distribution of polarization. The possibility of detection of three-dimensional single molecular orientation was shown by numerical calculations.

Key words: molecular orientation, optical microscopy, single molecular detection, fluorescence microscopy, liquid crystal spatial light modulator

^*Author who corresponding, E-mail address: mamoru@me.es.osaka-u.ac.jp