Optical control of memristors opens the route to new applications in optoelectronic switching and neuromorphic computing. Motivated by the need for reversible and latched optical switching we report on the development of a memristor with electronic properties tunable and switchable by wavelength and polarization specific light. The device consists of an optically active azobenzene polymer, poly(disperse red 1 acrylate), overlaying a forest of vertically aligned ZnO nanorods. Illumination induces trans-cis isomerization of the azobenzene molecules, which expands or contracts the polymer layer and alters the resistance of the off/on states, their ratio and retention time. The reversible optical effect enables dynamic control of a memristor's learning properties including control of synaptic potentiation and depression, optical switching between short-term and long-term memory and optical modulation of the synaptic efficacy via spike timing dependent plasticity. The work opens the route to the dynamic patterning of memristor networks both spatially and temporally by light, thus allowing the development of new optically reconfigurable neural networks and adaptive electronic circuits.

Spin crossover (SCO) molecules are promising bi-stable magnetic switches with applications in molecular spintronics. However, little is known about the switching effects of a single SCO molecule when it is confined between two metal electrodes. Here we examine the switching properties of a [Fe(III)(EtOSalPet )(NCS)] SCO molecule that is specifically tailored for surface deposition and binding to only one gold electrode in a nanogap device. Temperature dependent conductivity measurements on SCO molecule containing electromigrated gold break junctions show voltage independent telegraphic-like switching between two resistance states at temperature below 200 K. The transition temperature is very different from the transition temperature of 83 K that occurs in a bulk film of the same material. This indicates that the bulk, co-operative SCO phenomenon is no longer preserved for a single molecule and that the surface interaction drastically increases the temperature of the SCO phenomenon. Another key finding of this work is that some devices show switching between multiple resistance levels. We propose that in this case, two SCO molecules are present within the nanogap with both participating in the electronic transport and switching.

This paper reports on the first optically tunable graphene oxide memristor device. Modulation of resistive switching memory by light opens the route to new optoelectronic devices that can be switched optically and read electronically. Applications include integrated circuits with memory elements switchable by light and optically reconfigurable and tunable synaptic circuits for neuromorphic computing and braininspired, artificial intelligence systems. In this report, planar and vertical structured optical resistive switching memristors based on graphene oxide are reported. The device is switchable by either optical or electronic means, or by a combination of both. In addition the devices exhibit a unique wavelength dependence that produces reversible and irreversible properties depending on whether the irradiation is long or short wavelength light, respectively. For long wavelength light, the reversible photoconductance effect permits short-term dynamic modulation of the resistive switching properties of the light, which has application as short-term memory in neuromorphic computing. In contrast, short wavelength length induces both a reversible photoconductance effect and irreversible changes due to reduction of the graphene oxide. This has important application in the fabrication of neural networks with factory defined weights, enabling the fast replication of artificial intelligent chips with pre-trained information.

An optical memristor where the electrical resistance memory depends on the history of both the current flowing through the device and the irradiance of incident light onto it is demonstrated. It is based on a nanocomposite consisting of functionalized gold nanoparticles in an optically active azobenzene polymer matrix. The composite has an extremely low percolation threshold of 0.04% by volume for conductivity because of the aggregation of the conducting nanoparticles into filamentary nanochannels. Optical irradiation results in photomechanical switching through expansion of the thin film from above to below the percolation threshold, giving a large LOW/HIGH resistance ratio of 10 3 . The device acts as an artificial synapse, the conductivity or plasticity of which can be independently modulated, either electrically or optically, to enable tunable and reconfigurable synaptic circuits for brain-inspired artificial intelligent or visual memory arrays. The lifetime of the resistive-memory states is also optically controllable, which enables spatial modulation of long-and short-term memory.