Proposal of ReLU Activation Function Using III-V Semiconductor Membrane Laser for Optical Neural Network

We propose programmable low-power-consumption optical ReLU activation function for the fully optical neural network. The optical-to-optical nonlinearity is realized using characteristics of semiconductor membrane laser on Si-platform, and it generates ReLU function with controllable threshold input power. Optical ReLU function using a GaInAsP membrane distributed reflector laser on Si was experimentally demonstrate.