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Split Wave: Team Develops Component for Neuromorphic Computer


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In a neuromorphic computer, the switching points of the brain are simulated with magnetic waves, which are specifically generated and divided using nonlinear processes within microscopically small vortex discs.

A new neuromorphic computing hardware approach has been demonstrated by researchers at Germany's Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf.

Credit: Sahneweiss, H. Schultheiss/HZDR

Researchers at Germany's Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have demonstrated a new neuromorphic computing hardware approach, producing  targeted magnetic waves generated and divided in micrometer-sized wafers.

The team investigated a tiny iron-nickel disc only a few micrometers in diameter, encircled by a gold ring; routing an alternating current in the gigahertz range through this ring discharges microwaves that excite spin waves in the disc.

This enables efficient data transit without moving the electrons themselves.

A small magnetic strip attached near the magnetic wafer allows a short microwave transmission to induce a spin wave that interacts with the wafer's spin wave, causing it to split faster and demonstrating the wafer's technical suitability for artificial hardware neurons.

HZDR's Helmut Schultheib said, "The next thing we want to do is build a small network with our spin wave neurons. This neuromorphic network should then perform simple tasks such as recognizing straightforward patterns."

From Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (Germany)
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Abstracts Copyright © 2020 SmithBucklin, Washington, DC, USA


 

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