This protocol describes a large-volume illuminator, which was developed for optogenetic manipulations in the non-human primate brain. The illuminator is a modified plastic optical fiber with etched tip, such that the light emitting surface area is > 100x that of a conventional fiber. In addition to describing the construction of the large-volume illuminator, this protocol details the quality-co...

We present the design and implementation of a unique sensing and actuation application -the Illuminator: a sensor network-based intelligent light control system for entertainment and media production. Unlike most sensor network applications, which focus on sensing alone, a distinctive aspect of the Illuminator is that it closes the loop from light sensing to lighting control. We describe the Il...

A compact multicolor beam illuminator and a compact multicolor beam expander are presented. The illuminator performs the dual task of demultiplexing a narrow red-green-blue (RGB) input beam into three separate beams, each of a different color, and expanding them to yield three separate magnified plane waves. The beam expander expands a narrow RGB input beam into a single magnified RGB plane wav...

We propose a method for designing an improved phase-only Talbot array illuminator, called a phase contrast Talbot array illuminator (PCTAI), which could be used to generate an array of spots with a special intensity structure and high efficiency. As examples, we designed two types of PCTAIs for generating an array of line and hollow spots, respectively. Some experimental results revealing the p...

Let S be a simply connected orthogonal polygon in the plane, and let T be a horizontal (or vertical) segment such that T ′ ∩ S is connected for every translate T ′ of T . If every two points of S see via staircase paths a common translate of T , then there is a translate of T seen via staircase paths by every point of S. That is, some translate of T is a staircase illuminator for S. Clearly the...