The unprecedented growth in information across diverse media drives an urgent need for multifunctional materials and devices beyond conventional electrical paradigms. This work explores all-optical information processing based on photoluminescence functions using smart phosphor. The developed composite phosphor of mixed-halide perovskite embedded macroporous Y2O3:Eu3+ exhibits adaptive photoluminescence variations with neuromorphic characteristics. Theoretical simulations reveal interface-mediated halogen migration processes with progressively evolving energy barriers, underpinning the neuron-like photoluminescence property variations. The system enables full photoluminescence-based Write and Read functionalities for all-optical neuromorphic computing, achieving 4-bit binary sequence discrimination as physical reservoirs. It further demonstrates potential in photoluminescence-based fingerprint authentication with 94.4% accuracy. This work advances smart phosphor as an alternative approach to neuromorphic computing with optical-stimuli and optical-output. It also opens avenues for designing function-oriented phosphor materials with tailored properties for information science and artificial intelligence applications. Zhao et al. report a smart phosphor that exhibits adaptive light-induced photoluminescence variation and dark recovery with non-destructive readout functions. It mimics synaptic behaviors in a full-photoluminescent manner, enabling an alternative way of all-optical physical reservoir computing.
Zhao et al. (2025) studied this question.