Leaky Integrate-and-Fire Mechanism in Exciton-Polariton Condensates for Photonic Spiking Neurons

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that exciton-polariton microcavities can mimic leaky integrate-and-fire neuron behavior, enabling ultrafast, energy-efficient photonic spiking neural networks with sub-nanosecond dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel photonic neuron model based on exciton-polariton microcavities exhibiting leaky integrate-and-fire properties, advancing neuromorphic photonics.

Findings

Exciton-polaritons show leaky integration and threshold firing.

Spiking behavior occurs within sub-ns timescales.

Energy per spike is below 1 pJ.

Abstract

This paper introduces a new approach to neuromorphic photonics in which microcavities exhibiting strong exciton-photon interaction may serve as building blocks of optical spiking neurons. The experimental results demonstrate the intrinsic property of exciton-polaritons to resemble the Leaky Integrate-and-Fire spiking mechanism. It is shown that exciton-polariton microcavities when non-resonantly pumped with a pulsed laser exhibit leaky-integration due to relaxation of the excitonic reservoir, threshold-and-fire mechanism due to transition to Bose-Einstein condensate, and resetting due to stimulated emission of photons. These effects, evidenced in photoluminescence characteristics, arise within sub-ns timescales. The presented approach provides means for energy-efficient ultrafast processing of spike-like laser pulses at the level below 1 pJ/spike.