Ultra-fast artificial neuron: generation of picosecond-duration spikes in a current-driven antiferromagnetic auto-oscillator.

We demonstrate analytically and numerically, that a thin film of an antiferromagnetic (AFM) material, having biaxial magnetic anisotropy and being driven by an external spin-transfer torque signal, can be used for the generation of ultra-short "Dirac-delta-like" spikes. The duration of the generated spikes is several picoseconds for typical AFM materials and is determined by the inplane magnetic anisotropy and the effective damping of the AFM material. The generated output signal can consist of a single spike or a discrete group of spikes ("bursting"), which depends on the repetition (clock) rate, amplitude, and shape of the external control signal.