Stochasticity in coupled spiking nano-oscillators

Spiking oscillations can be generated by volatile resistive switching of VO₂ devices which undergo an insulator-to-metal transition in response to a DC electrical voltage. We observe that increasing the coupling strength between VO₂ based spiking oscillators produces stochastic disruptions in the synchronized spiking sequence. The stochastic behavior occurs for electrical as well as thermally coupled oscillators. This behavior is in a stark contrast with conventional harmonic oscillators, in which a stronger coupling leads to a more robust synchronization. The demonstration is simple, clear, straightforward, and unexpected. These results could greatly benefit researcher who work on understanding the basic science of coupled systems, develop practical implementation of nontraditional computational algorithms and study collective behavior of complex neuronal systems. This stochastic synchronization strongly resembles coupling of biological neurons and has broad relevance in many fields.