Controlled propagation of spiking dynamics in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers : towards neuromorphic photonic networks

Deng, Tao and Robertson, Joshua and Hurtado, Antonio (2017) Controlled propagation of spiking dynamics in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers : towards neuromorphic photonic networks. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, 23 (6). 1800408. ISSN 1077-260X (https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTQE.2017.2685140)

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Abstract

We report experimentally and in theory on the controllable propagation of spiking regimes between two interlinked Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers (VCSELs). We show that spiking patterns generated in a first transmitter VCSEL (T-VCSEL) are communicated to a second receiver VCSEL (R-VCSEL) which responds by firing the same spiking response. Importantly, the spiking regimes from both devices had analogous temporal and amplitude characteristics, including equal number of spikes fired, same spike and inter-spike temporal durations and similar spike intensity properties. These responses are analogous to the spiking communication patterns of biological neurons yet at sub-nanosecond speeds, this is several (up to 8) orders of magnitude faster than the timescales of biological neurons. We have also carried out numerical simulations reproducing with high degree of agreement the experimental findings. These results obtained with inexpensive, commercially available VCSELs operating at important telecom wavelengths (1300nm) offer great prospects for the scaling of emerging VCSEL-based photonic neuronal models into network configurations for use in novel neuromorphic photonic systems. This offers high potentials for non-traditional computing paradigms beyond digital systems and able to operate at ultrafast speeds.

ORCID iDs

Deng, Tao, Robertson, Joshua and Hurtado, Antonio ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4448-9034;
  • Item type:Article
    ID code:60236
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    22 March 2017
    Published
    17 March 2017
    Accepted
    Notes:(c) 2017 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works.
    Keywords:vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), neuromorphic photonics, photonic neurons, photonic spiking processing, spiking regimes, controllable propagation, Electrical Engineering. Electronics Nuclear Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering
    Subjects:Technology > Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering
    Department:Faculty of Science > Physics > Institute of Photonics
    Faculty of Science > Physics
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:17 Mar 2017 16:26
    Last modified:20 Mar 2023 02:56
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/60236
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