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Neuromimetic Circuits with Synaptic Devices Based on Strongly Correlated Electron Systems

Sieu D. Ha, Jian Shi, Yasmine Meroz, L. Mahadevan, and Shriram Ramanathan
Phys. Rev. Applied 2, 064003 – Published 4 December 2014
Physics logo See Synopsis: Mimicking the Brain

Abstract

Strongly correlated electron systems such as the rare-earth nickelates (RNiO3, R denotes a rare-earth element) can exhibit synapselike continuous long-term potentiation and depression when gated with ionic liquids; exploiting the extreme sensitivity of coupled charge, spin, orbital, and lattice degrees of freedom to stoichiometry. We present experimental real-time, device-level classical conditioning and unlearning using nickelate-based synaptic devices in an electronic circuit compatible with both excitatory and inhibitory neurons. We establish a physical model for the device behavior based on electric-field-driven coupled ionic-electronic diffusion that can be utilized for design of more complex systems. We use the model to simulate a variety of associate and nonassociative learning mechanisms, as well as a feedforward recurrent network for storing memory. Our circuit intuitively parallels biological neural architectures, and it can be readily generalized to other forms of cellular learning and extinction. The simulation of neural function with electronic device analogs may provide insight into biological processes such as decision making, learning, and adaptation, while facilitating advanced parallel information processing in hardware.

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  • Received 10 September 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.2.064003

© 2014 American Physical Society

Synopsis

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Mimicking the Brain

Published 4 December 2014

Circuits built using strongly correlated electron materials can simulate brain functions such as learning and storing memories.

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Authors & Affiliations

Sieu D. Ha1,*, Jian Shi1,†, Yasmine Meroz1, L. Mahadevan1,2, and Shriram Ramanathan1,‡

  • 1School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
  • 2Department of Physics and Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA

  • *Present address: HRL Laboratories LLC, Malibu, CA 90265, USA.
  • Present address: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180, USA.
  • Corresponding author. shriram@seas.harvard.edu

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Issue

Vol. 2, Iss. 6 — December 2014

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