Emulation of Astrocyte Induced Neural Phase Synchrony in Spin-Orbit Torque Oscillator Neurons

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that radio-frequency signals in spin-orbit torque oscillator neurons can mimic astrocyte-induced neural phase synchronization, offering insights into neural binding and potential neuromorphic applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to emulate astrocyte-induced neural phase synchrony using spin-orbit torque oscillators and designs a coupled neuron-synapse-astrocyte network with neuromimetic devices.

Findings

Radio-frequency signals induce phase synchronization in spin-orbit torque neurons.

The proposed network models astrocyte-induced neural phase synchrony.

Potential applications in understanding neural binding and neuromorphic computing.

Abstract

Astrocytes play a central role in inducing concerted phase synchronized neural-wave patterns inside the brain. In this article, we demonstrate that injected radio-frequency signal in underlying heavy metal layer of spin-orbit torque oscillator neurons mimic the neuron phase synchronization effect realized by glial cells. Potential application of such phase coupling effects is illustrated in the context of a temporal "binding problem". We also present the design of a coupled neuron-synapse-astrocyte network enabled by compact neuromimetic devices by combining the concepts of local spike-timing dependent plasticity and astrocyte induced neural phase synchrony.