ABSTRACT
To be compatible with networking approaches, a laser neuron must be packaged with other elements to provide the full functionality of a processing-network node (PNN). Viewed as a black-box, the PNN must accept multiple optical inputs and output its own optical signal. As seen in the previous chapter, the use of wavelength as a channel identifier, tunable filters as weights, and photodetectors for incoherent power summing has many appealing qualities for analog neural networking on an integrated photonic platform. Chapter 6 reviewed a variety of laser devices which could be candidate laser neurons; however, using these devices in a WDM analog network requires them to be electrically modulated, unless some other method for weighting and wavelength conversion may be introduced. The analog electronic link between summing photodetectors and laser neuron is therefore a key piece for creating photonic spiking networks.
