Associative memory with atoms and photons

We have created the first quantum-optical associative memory.  We experimentally show that one can store and recall memories in a spin glass, which was long thought not possible.  The exponentially many glassy minima—which cannot be used as memories under equilibrium recall—can now be turned into reliable memories under driven-dissipative cavity dynamics.  By doing so, we achieve a storage capacity that exceeds the classical Hopfield limit by as much as seven-fold.  A second key discovery is a polaronic “elasticity” that mimics the short-term synaptic plasticity inherent to biological systems.  We show that this doubles memory capacity and points to future directions whereby our neural network can be trained using a naturally occurring synaptic plasticity.  Read paper here.