Chung-Jen OU^1,2, Ching-I SHEN^1,2, and Chung-Ming OU³

¹Department of Electrical Engineering, Hsiuping Institute of Technology, Taichung 400, Taiwan
²Department of Life Science, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 400, Taiwan
³Department of Information Management, Kainan University, Taoyuan 300, Taiwan

(Received August 31, 2008; Revised April 21, 2009; Accepted May 8, 2009)

Spatial light modulator is introduced for cell culturing and related illumination experiment. Two kinds of designs were used. The first type put the cell along with the bio-medium directly on top of the analyzer of the microdisplay and set a cover glass on it to retain the medium environment, which turned the microdisplay into a bio-container. The second type introduced an optical lens system placed below the spatial light modulator to focus the light spots on specific position. Details of the advantages and drawbacks for the two different approaches are discussed, and the human melanocyte cell (HMC) is introduced to prove the feasibility of the concept. Results indicate that the second type is much more suitable than the first for precision required application.

Key words: spatial light modulator, optical neural guide