title: Solitary and coupled semiconductor ring lasers as optical spiking neurons.
abstract: We theoretically investigate the possibility of generating pulses in an excitable (asymmetric) semiconductor ring laser (SRL) using optical trigger pulses. We show that the phase difference between the injected field and the electric field inside the SRL determines the direction of the perturbation in phase space. Due to the folded shape of the excitability threshold, this has an important influence on the ability to cross it. A mechanism for exciting multiple consecutive pulses using a single trigger pulse (i.e., multipulse excitability) is revealed. We furthermore investigate the possibility of using asymmetric SRLs in a coupled configuration, which is a first step toward an all-optical neural network using SRLs as building blocks.
authors: Applied Physics Research Group (APHY), Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussel, Belgium. wcoomans@vub.ac.be
authors: W
authors: W
authors: Coomans
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Gelens
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Beri
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Danckaert
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Van der Sande
mesh_terms: D032701:Biomimetics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D007834:Lasers; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology*; D055620:Optical Phenomena; D012666:Semiconductors