Supervised learning and pattern recognition in photonic spiking neural networks based on MRR and phase-change materials

Abstract

Traditional computers are limited by the separation of memory and processor units, is difficult to achieve fast, efficient, and low-power computing. While photonic spiking neural networks (SNNs) can overcome these shortcomings, they encounter limitations in large-scale integration. Silicon photonics platform, compatible with mature Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) platforms, is a promising candidate for realizing large-scale photonic SNNs. In this work, we proposed an integrated photonic SNN by exploiting the photonic properties of phase-change material (PCM) Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) and micro-ring resonators (MRR), and demonstrated its integrate-and-fire (IF) behavior. Based on a system-level behavioral model, we adopt an improved Tempotron-like ReSuMe supervised learning algorithm to train the proposed photonic SNNs and complete a pattern recognition task for the clock's 12 clockwise directions. Then the influence of different noise levels is considered, and the accuracy is close to 1 when the noise level is less than 0.2. We propose a photonic implementation of such an SNN system, and use wavelength division multiplexing to achieve a scalable architecture for the pattern recognition task. The collaborative design and optimization of hardware architecture and algorithm are realized, providing a theoretical basis for the realization of photonic SNN based on MRRs and PCM.