ABSTRACT
Neuromorphic engineering aims to build machines employing basic nervous systems operations by bridging the physics of biology with engineering platforms enhancing performance for applications interacting with natural environments such as vision and speech. Information representation can have a profound effect on information processing. In what is considered the third generation of neuromorphic electronics, approaches are typified by their use of spiking signals. A network of photonic neurons could open computational domains that demand unprecedented temporal precision, power efficiency, and functional complexity, potentially including applications in wideband radio frequency processing, adaptive control of multi-antenna systems, and high-performance scientific computing. Neuromorphic processing for high-bandwidth applications in the GHz regime must take a fundamentally different approach to interconnection. Large scale integrated photonic platforms offer an opportunity for ultrafast neuromorphic processing that complements neuromorphic microelectronics aimed at biological timescales. Neuromorphic photonics represents a broad domain of applications where quick, temporally precise and robust systems are necessary.
