Excitability and memory in a time-delayed optoelectronic neuron

Abstract

We study the dynamics of an optoelectronic circuit composed of an excitable nanoscale resonant-tunneling diode (RTD) driving a nanolaser diode (LD) coupled via time-delayed feedback. Using a combination of numerical path-continuation methods and time simulations, we demonstrate that this RTD-LD system can serve as an artificial neuron, generating pulses in the form of temporal localized states (TLSs) that can be employed as memory for neuromorphic computing. In particular, our findings reveal that the prototypical delayed FitzHugh-Nagumo model previously employed to model the RTD-LD resembles our more realistic model only in the limit of a slow RTD. We show that the RTD time scale plays a critical role in memory capacity as it governs a shift in pulse interaction from repulsive to attractive, leading to a transition from stable to unstable multi-pulse TLSs. Our theoretical analysis uncovers features and challenges previously unknown for the RTD-LD system, including the multistability of TLSs and attractive interaction forces, stemming from the previously neglected intrinsic dynamics of the laser. These effects are crucial to consider since they define the memory properties of the RTD-LD.