Extended Data Fig. 2: Microdisplay-based illumination control system setup.

a, Schematic of the optical illumination setup. White light from the lamp is split in half and directed into two optical paths using a beam splitter, filtered by two separate dichroic mirrors to supply blue light to two of the LC microdisplays (LCDs). After passing through the microdisplays, which define the spatial patterns of illumination, the two light beams are recombined by a dichroic prism and then separated again on the basis of their polarization. The two separated light paths correspond to patterns generated on the two LCDs and their polarization is further controlled by the half-wave plates. Additional mirrors enable fine-tuning of the position of the projected patterns after the light is re-combined and coupled into the microscope. In the schematic, ‘50/50’ denotes the plate beam splitters (BSW10R, Thorlabs); ‘DM-B’ indicates the dichroic mirrors that reflect blue light; L1 and L2 are convex lenses; ‘HWP’ denotes half-wave plates; ‘P’ represents the polarizer; ‘DCP’ is a dichroic cross-prism; ‘PBS’ is a cube polarizing beam splitter (CCM1-PB251, Thorlabs); M1 and M2 are silver mirrors. b, Spectra of the red imaging light obtained by filtering the light of the microscope lamp, and of the blue excitation light from the microdisplay control system. Solid and dashed blue lines are the spectra of the two blue channels when turned on separately.