The co-location of memory and processing is a core principle of neuromorphic computing. A local memory device for synaptic weight storage has long been recognized as an enabling element for large-scale, high-performance neuromorphic hardware. In this work, we demonstrate programmable superconducting synapses with integrated memories for use in superconducting optoelectronic neural systems. Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors and Josephson junctions are combined into programmable synaptic circuits that exhibit single-photon sensitivity, memory cells with more than 400 internal states, leaky integration of input spike events, and 0.4 fJ programming energies (including cooling power). These results are attractive for implementing a variety of supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms and lay the foundation for a new hardware platform optimized for large-scale spiking network accelerators.

翻译：存算一体是神经形态计算的核心原则。实现突触权重本地存储的器件长期以来被视为构建大规模高性能神经形态硬件的关键要素。本研究展示了具有集成存储器的可编程超导突触，可应用于超导光电神经系统中。我们将超导纳米线单光子探测器与约瑟夫森结结合，构建出可编程突触电路，该电路具有单光子灵敏度、包含超过400个内部状态的存储单元、输入脉冲事件的泄漏积分特性，以及0.4 fJ（含冷却功耗）的编程能耗。这些成果为实现多种有监督与无监督学习算法提供了有利条件，并为优化大规模脉冲网络加速器的新型硬件平台奠定了基础。