Artificial optoelectronic spiking neuron based on a resonant tunnelling diode coupled to a vertical cavity surface emitting laser

Hejda, M. et al. (2023) Artificial optoelectronic spiking neuron based on a resonant tunnelling diode coupled to a vertical cavity surface emitting laser. Nanophotonics, 12(5), pp. 857-867. (doi: 10.1515/nanoph-2022-0362)

Abstract

Excitable optoelectronic devices represent one of the key building blocks for implementation of artificial spiking neurons in neuromorphic (brain-inspired) photonic systems. This work introduces and experimentally investigates an opto-electro-optical (O/E/O) artificial neuron built with a resonant tunnelling diode (RTD) coupled to a photodetector as a receiver and a vertical cavity surface emitting laser as a transmitter. We demonstrate a well-defined excitability threshold, above which the neuron produces optical spiking responses with characteristic neural-like refractory period. We utilise its fan-in capability to perform in-device coincidence detection (logical AND) and exclusive logical OR (XOR) tasks. These results provide first experimental validation of deterministic triggering and tasks in an RTD-based spiking optoelectronic neuron with both input and output optical (I/O) terminals. Furthermore, we also investigate in simulation the prospects of the proposed system for nanophotonic implementation in a monolithic design combining a nanoscale RTD element and a nanolaser; therefore demonstrating the potential of integrated RTD-based excitable nodes for low footprint, high-speed optoelectronic spiking neurons in future neuromorphic photonic hardware.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: The authors acknowledge support by the European Commission (Grant 828841-ChipAI-H2020- FETOPEN-2018-2020) and by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Turing AI Acceleration Fellowships Programme (EP/V025198/1).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Wasige, Professor Edward and Al-Taai, Dr Qusay and ZHANG, WEIKANG and Javaloyes, Dr Julien
• Authors: Hejda, M., Malysheva, E., Owen-Newns, D., Al-Taai, Q. R. A., Zhang, W., Ortega-Piwonka, I., Javaloyes, J., Wasige, E., Dolores-Calzadilla, V., Figueiredo, J. M. L., Romeira, B., and Hurtado, A.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Electronics and Nanoscale Engineering
• Journal Name: Nanophotonics
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• ISSN: 2192-8606
• ISSN (Online): 2192-8614
• Published Online: 15 November 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Nanophotonics 12(5): 857-867
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
303977		ChipAI	Edward Wasige	European Commission (EC)	828841	ENG - Electronics & Nanoscale Engineering