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，一个旨在效仿人脑并引领新时代的新领域应运而生：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以及其他相关系统，并概述了当前神经形态领域的主要技术。文章首先回顾传统计算的发展历程及其当前面临的挑战，进而对神经形态系统进行整体性概述。随后，论文重点探讨了目前处于发展阶段的核心技术。为保持论述的完整性，本文先探讨了基于传统硬件的神经形态风格计算，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。文中详细阐释了这两类技术路径及其各自的优势与局限。最后，论文对全文内容进行总结，并对未来发展前景作出展望。