Postgraduate research opportunities Neuromorphic Photonic Spiking Processing Systems for Light-Enabled AI

The human brain is exceptional at performing fast and efficiently highly complex tasks. Therefore, neuromorphic (brain-like) computing approaches are attracting increasing research interest for use in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Whilst neuromorphic computing systems have been to date mainly supported by traditional digital electronic technologies, photonic approaches for brain-inspired information processing have started to receive growing attention due to their unique and superior properties. These include very high speeds, low energy requirements, reduced sensitivity to interference and high parallelism, among others.

This PhD project will design, develop and investigate novel neuromorphic (brain-like) photonic computing systems for future ultrafast and energy-efficient light-enabled AI technologies. These systems will use neural-like optical spikes (rather than traditional digital signals) to process information. In particular, this programme will develop and analyse novel photonic spiking neurons and processors as well as photonic spiking neural networks (p-SNNs), based upon key-enabling optoelectronic devices (e.g. semiconductor lasers). Additionally, this programme will also focus on the development of efficient algorithms for the training and operation of the developed spike-based neuromorphic photonic processing platforms.

This highly inter-disciplinary project merging together different disciplines (e.g. photonics, neuromorphic engineering, AI) will thus develop a first generation of functional ultrafast, energy-efficient neuromorphic photonic processing platforms for strategic applications (e.g. high-speed data classification, image/video/analog signal processing, etc.).

Institute of Photonics: The Institute of Photonics (IoP), part of the Department of Physics, is a centre of excellence in applications-oriented research at the University of Strathclyde.  The Institute’s key objective is to bridge the gap between academic research and industrial applications and development in the area of photonics. The IoP is located in the £100M Technology and Innovation Centre on Strathclyde’s Glasgow city centre campus, at the heart of Glasgow’s Innovation District, where it is co-located with the UK’s first Fraunhofer Research Centre. Researchers at the IoP are active in a broad range of photonics fields under the areas of Photonic Devices, Advanced Lasers and Neurophotonics, please see:

http://www.strath.ac.uk/science/physics/instituteofphotonics/ourresearch/.

Strathclyde Physics is a member of SUPA, the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance.

The University of Strathclyde has, in recent years, been the recipient of the following awards: The Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education (2019 & 2021); The Times and The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year (2020), Times Higher Education University of the Year 2012 & 2019.