2024/01/23 by Konstantin Malchow, Till Zellweger, Malchow, K. +9 · 1 citation
Neuroscience · #FOS: Physical sciences #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) #Neural dynamics and brain function #Neuroscience and Neural Engineering #Photoreceptor and optogenetics research
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2401.12867
openalex publication_date 2024/01/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Key pre-synaptic and post-synaptic biological functions have been successfully implemented in various hardware systems. A noticeable example are neuronal networks constructed from memristors, which are emulating complex electro-chemical biological dynamics such a neuron's efficacy and plasticity. Neurons are highly active cells, communicating with chemical and electrical stimuli, but also emit light. These photons are suspected to be a complementary vehicle to transport information across the brain. Here, we show that a memristor also releases photons akin to the production of neuronal light. Critical attributes of so-called biophotons such as self-generation, origin, stochasticity, spectral coverage, sparsity and correlation with the neuron's activity are replicated by our solid-state approach. Our findings further extend the emulating capability of a memristor to encompass neuronal biophoton emission and open the possibility to construct a bimodal electro-optical platform with the assistance of atomic-scale devices capable of handling electrons and photons as information carriers.