Neuromorphic photonic technologies and architectures: scaling opportunities and performance frontiers [Invited]

Abstract

We review different technologies and architectures for neuromorphic photonic accelerators, spanning from bulk optics to photonic-integrated-circuits (PICs), and assess compute efficiency in OPs/Watt through the lens of a comparative study where key technology aspects are analyzed. With an emphasis on PIC neuromorphic accelerators, we shed light onto the latest advances in photonic and plasmonic modulation technologies for the realization of weighting elements in training and inference applications, and present a recently introduced scalable coherent crossbar layout. Finally, we stress that current technologies face challenges endowing photonic accelerators with compute efficiencies in the PetaOPs/W, and discuss future implementation pathways towards improving performance.