[OPTICAL REVIEW Vol. 12, No. 1 (2005) 37-41]
© 2005 The Optical Society of Japan

Proposition of Single Molecular Orientation Determination Using Polarization Controlled Beam by Liquid Crystal Spatial Light Modulators

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

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