Monolithic optoelectronic transistor: a new optical neuron device

摘要

Abstract: An integrated optoelectronic device, the monolithic optoelectronic transistor (MOET), has been demonstrated. The MOET functions as an optical sum-and-threshold device with large- signal optical gain. It can be electrically biased to achieve either abrupt switching thresholds or quasi-sigmoidal optical transfer characteristics, and excitatory and inhibitory inputs can be incorporated through a simple modification of the single- input device. Initial MOET devices displayed an optical gain greater than 10 and an output contrast ratio exceeding 50. The MOET has promising characteristics as a building block of optoelectronically implemented neural networks and image preprocessing systems.!5