Delay dynamics of neuromorphic optoelectronic nanoscale resonators: Perspectives and applications

Abstract

With the recent exponential growth of applications using artificial intelligence (AI), the development of efficient and ultrafast brain-like (neuromorphic) systems is crucial for future information and communication technologies. While the implementation of AI systems using computer algorithms of neural networks is emerging rapidly, scientists are just taking the very first steps in the development of the hardware elements of an artificial brain, specifically neuromorphic microchips. In this review article, we present the current state of the art of neuromorphic photonic circuits based on solid-state optoelectronic oscillators formed by nanoscale double barrier quantum well resonant tunneling diodes. We address, both experimentally and theoretically, the key dynamic properties of recently developed artificial solid-state neuron microchips with delayed perturbations and describe their role in the study of neural activity and regenerative memory. This review covers our recent research work on excitable and delay dynamic characteristics of both single and autaptic (delayed) artificial neurons including all-or-none response, spike-based data encoding, storage, signal regeneration and signal healing. Furthermore, the neural responses of these neuromorphic microchips display all the signatures of extended spatio-temporal localized structures (LSs) of light, which are reviewed here in detail. By taking advantage of the dissipative nature of LSs, we demonstrate potential applications in optical data reconfiguration and clock and timing at high-speeds and with short transients. The results reviewed in this article are a key enabler for the development of high-performance optoelectronic devices in future high-speed brain-inspired optical memories and neuromorphic computing.

p‐Type Doped AlAsSb/GaSb Resonant Tunneling Diode Photodetector for the Mid‐Infrared Spectral Region

“…Resonant tunneling diodes are versatile optoelectronic devices with a multitude of possible applications ranging from fundamental research of noise correlations, high‐speed oscillators with operation frequencies in the terahertz regime, and novel neuromorphic computation schemes to highly sensitive measurement devices of physical quantities such as strain, temperature, or light …”

Electrically Controlled Neuron-Like Spiking Regimes in Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers at Ultrafast Rates

“…the toolkit of neuromorphic photonic devices has expanded to include technologies such as photonic crystal structures [6,7], resonant tunneling diode-laser diode (RTD-LD) coupled systems [8,9], fibre lasers [10,11], semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) [12,13], optical modulators [14,15] and semiconductor lasers (SLs) [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. SLs are one of the most prominent devices in the development of artificial optical neurons as they exhibit the diverse behaviours observed in biological neurons, such as excitability [26,[31][32][33][34] and complex non-linear dynamics [35][36].…”

Toward Neuromorphic Photonic Networks of Ultrafast Spiking Laser Neurons

“…In this work we introduce our recent and ongoing research work on ultrafast VCSEL-Neuron systems for neuromorphic photonic applications. We first review (in Section II) our work on ultrafast photonic spiking regimes in VCSEL-Neurons at telecom wavelengths through both previously demonstrated experiments (11)(12)(13) [37][38][39][40]) and new findings (Figs. 9-10).…”

“…Initially, we have focused on the development of photonic spiking memory modules operating at sub-ns speed rates using VCSEL-Neurons as building blocks. The first configuration we have used is the so-called autaptic neuronal architecture [11]. Here, the output of a VCSEL-Neuron is fed back into itself via a delayed feedback loop.…”