Fractional order memcapacitive neuromorphic elements reproduce and predict neuronal function

There is an increasing need to implement neuromorphic systems that are both energetically and computationally efficient. There is also great interest in using electric elements with memory, memelements, that can implement complex neuronal functions intrinsically. A feature not widely incorporated in neuromorphic systems is history-dependent action potential time adaptation which is widely seen in real cells. Previous theoretical work shows that power-law history dependent spike time adaptation, seen in several brain areas and species, can be modeled with fractional order differential equations. Here, we show that fractional order spiking neurons can be implemented using super-capacitors. The super-capacitors have fractional order derivative and memcapacitive properties. We implemented two circuits, a leaky integrate and fire and a Hodgkin–Huxley. Both circuits show power-law spiking time adaptation and optimal coding properties. The spiking dynamics reproduced previously published computer simulations. However, the fractional order Hodgkin–Huxley circuit showed novel dynamics consistent with criticality. We compared the responses of this circuit to recordings from neurons in the weakly-electric fish that have previously been shown to perform fractional order differentiation of their sensory input. The criticality seen in the circuit was confirmed in spontaneous recordings in the live fish. Furthermore, the circuit also predicted long-lasting stimulation that was also corroborated experimentally. Our work shows that fractional order memcapacitors provide intrinsic memory dependence that could allow implementation of computationally efficient neuromorphic devices. Memcapacitors are static elements that consume less energy than the most widely studied memristors, thus allowing the realization of energetically efficient neuromorphic devices.