---
title: "Glass Fibers May Open Door to Neuromorphic Computing"
description: "Researchers have demonstrated how neural networks and synapses in the brain can be reproduced using special glass fibers made that are sensitive to light, known as chalcogenides."
date: "2015-03-18"
modified: "2015-08-13"
authors:
  - name: "Oana Stefanescu"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kidco"
url: "https://futurism.com/glass-fibers-may-open-door-to-neuromorphic-computing"
categories:
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "computing"
---

# Glass Fibers May Open Door to Neuromorphic Computing

![Default Futurism featured image](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Futurism-Filler-Image.jpg>)

- Using conventional fiber drawing techniques, microfibers can be produced from chalcogenide glass based on sulfur that possess a variety of broadband photo-induced effects, which allow the fibers to be switched on and off.
- This optical switching or light switching light, can be exploited for a variety of next generation computing applications capable of processing vast amounts of data in a much more energy-efficient manner.
- In the proposed optical version of this brain function, the changing properties of the glass act as the varying electrical activity in a nerve cell, and light provides the stimulus to change these properties. This enables switching of a light signal, which is the equivalent to a nerve cell firing.