SIMPEL: Circuit model for photonic spike processing laser neurons

TL;DR

This paper introduces SIMPEL, a circuit model for photonic laser neurons with saturable absorbers, enabling efficient simulation of neural-like photonic signal processing using SPICE, and demonstrating various neural dynamics.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel circuit model that maps laser neuron equations into a SPICE-compatible framework, facilitating efficient and generalizable simulations of photonic neural dynamics.

Findings

Model accurately simulates excitability and bistability.

Enables analysis of excitatory and inhibitory pulse effects.

Provides a modular approach for diverse laser neuron types.

Abstract

We propose an equivalent circuit model for photonic spike processing laser neurons with an embedded saturable absorber---a simulation model for photonic excitable lasers (SIMPEL). We show that by mapping the laser neuron rate equations into a circuit model, SPICE analysis can be used as an efficient and accurate engine for numerical calculations, capable of generalization to a variety of different laser neuron types found in literature. The development of this model parallels the Hodgkin--Huxley model of neuron biophysics, a circuit framework which brought efficiency, modularity, and generalizability to the study of neural dynamics. We employ the model to study various signal-processing effects such as excitability with excitatory and inhibitory pulses, binary all-or-nothing response, and bistable dynamics.