Why not try far infrared, or radio?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-infrared_window_in_biolog...
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S105381191...
Radio is probably much too fast--the time constant of a neuron is on the order of 10ms, so unless you're pumping a lot of instantaneous power into the neuron, the net effect is likely to be zero.