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Updated: Feb 14, 2026

Optrode Array for Simultaneous Optogenetic Modulation and Electrical Neural Recording
Published on: September 1, 2022
A biopotential optrode array: operation principles and simulations
Amr Al Abed1, Hrishikesh Srinivas2,3, Josiah Firth3
1Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, UNSW, Sydney, 2052, Australia. amra@unsw.edu.au.
Abstract:
We propose an optical electrode 'optrode' sensor array for biopotential measurements. The transduction mechanism is based on deformed helix ferroelectric liquid crystals which realign, altering the optrode's light reflectance properties, relative to applied potential fields of biological cells and tissue. A computational model of extracellular potential recording by the optrode including the electro-optical transduction mechanism is presented, using a combination of time-domain and frequency-domain finite element analysis. Simulations indicate that the device has appropriate temporal response to faithfully transduce neuronal spikes, and spatial resolution to capture impulse propagation along a single neuron. These simulations contribute to the development of multi-channel optrode arrays for spatio-temporal mapping of electric events in excitable biological tissue.
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