The Opti Arm
An Optical Interface Prosthetic Device

Optogenetics

Multimode Optical Fiber



Dr. Ed Boyden, co-inventor of optogenetics
 

Multimode  Optical Fiber

 Optogenetics is a technology used to control and determine the activity of specific neurons in the brain. In email conversations with Dr. Ed Boyden at the MIT Media Lab, we learned optogenetics does not collect signals from the brain, but it uses pulses of light to control the genetically modified brain of an organism. Since optogenetics sends a command in the form of light that the brain can understand, we should be able to reverse the process so that the brain sends light that acts as a command to the prosthetic at the other end.

Multimode optical fiber transports massive amounts of data from one end of a fiber to the other at the speed of light. It is more sensitive to light than single mode optical fiber, is extremely flexible, and is biocompatible.  In an interview with Scott R. Bickham, Senior Development Associate for Corning Optical Fiber, we learned that multimode Optical fibers are so flexible that they can be coiled around a dime and are capable of accurately transmitting even small quantities of light. Corning® ClearCurve® has an even smaller curve radius, which could be helpful. Because of this, we would use multimode optical fiber in our optical interface.