JPH079381B2 - Optical information conversion element - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an optical information conversion element, more specifically,
The present invention relates to an optical information conversion element that detects three-dimensional optical information with high sensitivity.

(Prior Art) In electric and electronic devices, recognition conversion of images, characters, symbols, etc. plays a central role in the interface between human and machine. As is well known, electronic recognition conversion has made rapid technological advances in recent years, and information processing equipment,
While bringing innovation to the fields of communication equipment and measuring equipment,
It has also expanded into areas closely related to our daily lives. Most of these recognition techniques have so far consisted of elements mainly using semiconductors or a combination thereof.

On the other hand, with the elucidation of life or biological phenomena, expectations for the development of materials and devices based on new ideas unique to biological phenomena are increasing. This is based on the idea that by imitating a biological phenomenon, a new electronic technology will be carried out in terms of information processing, recognition, etc. by an action different from the conventional idea. By the way, among the phenomena unique to many biological systems,
The most basic thing is that the biological system is not a thermodynamic equilibrium action that is usually considered, but a phenomenon that occurs in a non-equilibrium state far away from equilibrium. Has become clear from. Looking at this from another perspective, it can be said that this field contains a completely new concept.

A typical example arising from such a non-equilibrium system is
It is an oscillation phenomenon from a biological membrane or an artificial membrane (functional membrane) that imitates it. The oscillation phenomenon utilizing such a functional film is
It will be described with reference to the drawings. First, a container 1 is divided into two compartments by a partition 3 having a porous membrane (functional membrane) 2 containing lipid molecules in the center, and one compartment 4a is divided into, for example, 1 molar KCl.
The solution, on the other hand, contains a 1 molar NaCl solution 4b in the chamber of 4b. For example, an electrometer 6 connected to the membrane potential measuring electrodes 5a and 5b in which the potential difference between the solutions kept at 20 ° C. is inserted into each solution.
Thus, the periodic oscillation pattern shown in FIG. 4 can be observed. Such an action can be regarded as imitating the excitement phenomenon of the biological membrane.

It is known that such an oscillation pattern reversibly changes depending on the salt concentration, external pressure, temperature, etc., but it is known that it changes when a trace amount of substance is added to the solution. It has been suggested that this may be applied to the taste sensor that has not been used. However, in the technologies considered up to now, although a substance, pressure, temperature, etc. can be recognized, no method or element for so-called pattern recognition of images, features, etc. has been considered at all.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The present invention has been made based on the above-mentioned invention, and provides an optical information conversion element for recognizing an image input by utilizing the excitation phenomenon of a biological membrane in principle. It is what

[Structure of Invention]

(Means for Solving Problems) The present invention relates to a functional film containing a lipid molecule and having an oscillating action; a pair of electrodes for detecting the oscillating action; and an arrangement in which one of the electrodes is in contact with the functional film. An oscillating liquid that causes an oscillating action in the functional film; a photochemical reaction member that is contained in the functional film and / or the oscillating liquid at a position where light irradiation is possible, and causes a chemical reaction by light irradiation to change the oscillation pattern of the functional film. It is an optical information conversion element provided with, and two-dimensional optical information can be converted into an electric signal by using this element as a unit element and arranging a plurality of two-dimensionally.

The functional film of the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it has a self-excited oscillation action and has sufficient mechanical strength. For example, a membrane in which lipid molecules are accumulated on a porous membrane, a polymer membrane in which lipid molecules are dispersed, and the like can be mentioned.

In such a functional film, dioleyl fate, triolein, monoolein and various other phospholipid molecules perform self-oscillation. Examples of the porous membrane serving as a membrane base for fixing these lipid molecules include a cellulose-based porous filter such as acetyl cellulose, a fluororesin-based resin, a vinyl chloride resin-based porous filter, and the like. It is also possible to use a general-purpose polymer film such as polystyrene, polyethylene, or polypropylene.

As the photochemical reaction substance of the present invention, those having various reaction forms can be used, but in particular, the reaction form changes only during irradiation with external light irradiation, or changes even when light irradiation is cut off. It is desirable to maintain the above condition and return to the original condition from the outside again with different stimuli (light, heat, electricity, etc.). Examples of the substance that causes such a reaction include a substance that undergoes a proton transfer reaction such as keto-type and enol-type tautomerism, and a substance that performs a heterocyclic cleavage reaction such as photochromism of a spiropyran-based molecule into a merocyanine-based molecule. , Azobenzenes, stilbenes, and other substances that undergo cis-trans isomerization, substances with strain deformation such as between norvonadiene and quadxylene, or electrons between two molecules of electron donors and electron acceptors. Examples thereof include substances that carry out transfer reactions. The molecular structure of such substances is not particularly limited, but when these substances are added to the membrane, a system having a hydrophilic / hydrophobic group as well as a lipid is desirable.

When a plurality of unit elements are provided as described above, it is preferable to provide a partition wall for partitioning the oscillating liquid for each unit element from the viewpoint of simplifying the structure.

The member forming the partition between the unit elements is preferably stable and has a high insulating property, and the material is preferably an inorganic substance such as SiO ₂ or Al ₂ O ₃ or a general-purpose polymer.

It suffices for the electrode of the present invention that light can enter the photochemical reaction member contained in the functional film and / or the oscillation liquid, and that the oscillation pattern of the functional film can be detected. Those having a property of transmitting light or those installed so as to transmit light are preferable. For example, a mesh electrode, a transparent electrode, etc. are mentioned.

As the electrode material, Pt, Au carbon organic conductive material or the like is desirable from the viewpoint of chemical stability, but in some cases, a base metal may be used. Further, as the transparent electrode substance, it is desirable to use a generally known ITO film, glass having a NES film, or the like, but it is also possible to use a metal thin film such as Au formed to be thin enough to transmit light.

The oscillation liquid used in the present invention may be K ⁺ , Na ⁺ , any solution as long as it is a solution, preferably an aqueous solution or a gel-like substance, in which a substance causing self-oscillation such as Ca ²⁺ is dissolved. Well, it's not particularly limited.

This oscillation liquid is separated by the functional film and exists on both sides of the functional film. Electrodes are provided, for example, on each of the oscillating liquids thus isolated to detect oscillation. It is known that the oscillation phenomenon occurs due to the state of the oscillating liquid on both sides of the isolation (difference in ion concentration, change in external pressure, application of external DC voltage). Therefore, when detecting optical information, this oscillating liquid is set so as to generate steady oscillation even if there is no optical information (for example, application of an external DC voltage), and the change of the photochemical reaction member when the optical information is transmitted. Changes the oscillation state.

(Operation) The optical information conversion element of the present invention performs self-excited oscillation in the absence of any optical stimulus from the outside, and even if the potential difference between any electrodes facing the film is measured, it is shown in FIG. 4, for example. The same oscillation pattern is observed. When light is applied from the outside, the functional film to which the light is applied and / or the substance in the oscillation liquid that causes a chemical reaction undergoes a chemical reaction to change the molecular structure or electronic structure, resulting in periodic oscillation of the functional film. , The oscillation frequency and waveform amplitude are forcibly changed.

When minute unit elements are arranged two-dimensionally, when a certain specific light pattern is irradiated, the oscillation pattern of only the unit element in the part where the light is incident changes, so that the pattern of the irradiated light can be recognized. it can.

When there are many types of incident light or mixed photoreactive substances, a slightly different pattern is given depending on the incident wavelength, so the incident pattern can be recognized by comprehensively analyzing the oscillation patterns between each minute section. You can

(Example) Example 1 The details of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. First
The figure is a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 11 is a functional film having a self-oscillation action, and minute compartment forming means as shown by 12 are formed facing each other on both sides of the film. In these compartments, a solution or gel-like substance 13 containing an active substance such as K ⁺ and Na ⁺ that constantly causes self-oscillation is densely injected. The partition electrodes are arranged through 13 so as to face the 11 functional films. Furthermore, a transparent electrode is arranged on one side (14a in the figure) of the electrode on one side (14a in the figure) so that light 15 from the outside can be transmitted through one of the films. The size of the minute section is not particularly limited, but it is desirable to make the section as fine as possible when recognizing a fine pattern.

The obtained pattern information of oscillation at each place can be integrated relatively simply in the subsequent processing, and the change of the pattern by this element has a remarkable effect such that it acts highly sensitively to the input.

The optical information conversion element of this example was manufactured as follows.
Acetylcellulose porous filter having a pore size of 3 μm 1′-octadecyl-3 ′, 3′-dimethyl-6-nitrospiro (2H-1-benzopyran-2 ′, 2′-indoline) 2 mol% triolein mixed film We prepared a self-excited oscillating film in which the oscillation period was changed by external photoreaction. A grid frame made of polytetrafluorocarbon with a size of 1 mm × 1 mm and a height of 1 mm is placed on both sides of this membrane 11 so as to face each other as shown in FIG. 1, and 1 mm formed independently on each grid surface. A quartz plate having a transparent electrode with a Nesa film having an area of × 1 mm was formed. Furthermore, a device was formed by uniformly and densely injecting a 1 M KCl aqueous solution on one side of the membrane and a 1 M NaCl aqueous solution on each side into each compartment.

The element manufactured as described above was placed in a dark place at 20 ° C, and the potential change with time between the facing microelectrodes was measured. The development pattern as shown in Fig. 4 and the cycle of 100 seconds was observed at all locations. It was observed uniformly. When this film was irradiated with various patterns of 365 nm light, only the oscillation pattern of the section in the part where the light was irradiated changed its period to 80 seconds.

Example 2 A self-oscillation film was formed by accumulating L-α-dioleoylphosphatidylcholine in the form of a bilayer bilayer film by the Langmuir-Projet method on a porous filter made of acetylcellulose having a pore size of 0.3 μm. It was made. On one side of this film 11, a grid frame made of SiO ₂ having a size of 1.5 mm × 1.5 mm and a height of 0.5 mm is placed as shown in FIG. 2, and further, each grid surface is independently formed on the grid frame 1.5. A quartz plate having a transparent electrode with a Nesa film having an area of mm × 1.5 mm was formed. On the other side of the film, a glass plate 14b having a platinum vapor-deposited film electrode of the same size as the film facing the film was formed. Furthermore, in each compartment, 5M 4,4'-dicarboxyazobenzene on the side of the microelectrode and 1M KCl aqueous solution single electrode were uniformly and densely injected with the solution of 1M NaCl to form a device.

The device fabricated as described above was placed in the dark at 20 ° C and the potential change with time between each microelectrode and the counter platinum electrode was measured. As a result, an oscillation pattern as shown in Fig. 4 with a period of 120 seconds was found. It was observed uniformly at all locations. In this film,
When various patterns of 450 nm light were irradiated, only the oscillation pattern of the section irradiated with light changed its period to 100 seconds.

In the present embodiment, the side opposite to the light incident side is not divided into small sections and is composed of one electrode facing the solution over the entire film. The other structure is exactly the same as in the case of FIG.
The potential difference between the membranes is measured between each electrode of the microcompartment measurement and one electrode on the opposite side.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described in detail above, according to the optical information conversion element of the present invention, a new optical information recognition which is not available in the past can be obtained by observing the optical information of the external world as a change of the oscillation pattern in a very simple system by using the excitation phenomenon of the biological membrane as a model. It will be possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 and 2 are sectional views of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the principle of measuring the potential of a self-excited oscillation functional film, and FIG. 4 is an example of an oscillation pattern of the functional film. It is a diagram. 1 ... Container, 2, 11 ... Self-oscillation film, 4a, 4b ... Chamber, 6 ...
… Electrometer, 12 …… Small partition wall, 13 …… Solution, 14a …… Transparent electrode, 14b …… Electrode, 15 …… Light, 16 …… Lead wire.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A functional film containing a lipid molecule and having an oscillating action; an oscillating liquid which is arranged in contact with the functional film and causes an oscillating action in the functional film; and the functional film and / or the oscillating liquid can be irradiated with light. An optical information conversion element comprising: a photochemical reaction substance which is contained at various positions and causes a chemical reaction by light irradiation to change an oscillation pattern of a functional film; and a pair of electrodes which detect the oscillation action.