A light-driven gel actuator is a potential candidate for a single-cell manipulation tool because it allows cells to be manipulated while ensuring less damage. Moreover, a large number of actuators can be integrated into a microfluidic chip because no wiring is required. Previously, we proposed a method for cell manipulation using light-driven gel actuators. However, the system used in the previous work did not allow the targeted cells to be manipulated in real time because the system used in the previous work could only irradiate preprogrammed patterned light. Moreover, when a large number of gel actuators are integrated into a chip, the Gaussian distribution of the laser light source results in the response characteristics of the gel actuators varying with the location of the actuator. In this work, we constructed a system that homogenized the intensity of the patterned light used for irradiation, allowing multiple gel actuators to be driven in parallel in real time. The intensity-homogenized patterned light improved the variations in the response characteristics of the gel actuators, and as a result, we succeeded in actuating gel actuators with various light patterns in real time.

中文翻译：

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使用图案光驱动光驱动片上凝胶致动器的实时照射系统

光驱动凝胶致动器是单细胞操作工具的潜在候选者，因为它允许操作细胞，同时确保减少损伤。此外，由于不需要布线，因此可以将大量执行器集成到微流控芯片中。以前，我们提出了一种使用光驱动凝胶致动器进行细胞操作的方法。然而，之前工作中使用的系统不允许实时操作目标细胞，因为之前工作中使用的系统只能照射预编程的图案光。此外，当将大量凝胶致动器集成到芯片中时，激光光源的高斯分布导致凝胶致动器的响应特性随致动器的位置而变化。在这项工作中，我们构建了一个系统，可以使用于照射的图案光的强度均匀化，从而可以实时并行驱动多个凝胶致动器。强度均匀化的图案光改善了凝胶致动器响应特性的变化，因此，我们成功地实时驱动了具有各种光图案的凝胶致动器。