With traditional computing technologies reaching their limit, a new field has emerged seeking to follow the example of the human brain into a new era: neuromorphic computing. This paper provides an introduction to neuromorphic computing, why this and other new computing systems are needed, and what technologies currently exist in the neuromorphic field. It begins with a general introduction into the history of traditional computing and its present problems, and then proceeds to a general overview of neuromorphic systems. It subsequently discusses the main technologies currently in development. For completeness, the paper first discusses neuromorphic-style computing on traditional hardware, and then discusses the two top branches of specialized hardware in this field; neuromorphic chips and photonic systems. Both branches are explained as well as their relative benefits and drawbacks. The paper concludes with a summary and an outlook on the future.

翻译：随着传统计算技术逼近其极限，一个新兴领域正试图效仿人脑开启新时代：神经形态计算。本文介绍了神经形态计算的基本概念，阐述了为何需要此类新型计算系统，并综述了该领域现有的主要技术。文章首先概述传统计算的发展历程及其当前面临的挑战，进而系统性地介绍神经形态计算体系。随后重点讨论目前处于发展阶段的核心技术。为保持论述完整性，本文先探讨基于传统硬件的神经形态模拟计算，继而深入分析该领域两大专用硬件分支：神经形态芯片与光子计算系统。文中详细阐释了两类技术的原理，并对比了其相对优势与局限。最后，文章对神经形态计算的未来发展方向进行了总结与展望。