Light-based Neuromodulation in Novel Material Artificial Neurons

Neuromodulation is a key mechanism that allows neurons to adapt their plasticity and response to different environmental stimuli and serves an important function in learning and adaptive behaviors. While traditional neuromodulators such as hormones can achieve this modulation in biological neurons, the use of artificial neuromodulators in synthetic neurons has not yet been studied. Recently, 2D materials have shown great promise as artificial neurons due to their unique electrical and optical properties, but a mechanism for neuromodulation is still needed. Here, I propose to use optical metasurfaces to selectively absorb different wavelengths of light to simulate different neuromodulator hormones and pathways in 2D material memory transistors.