Large-scale photonic computing with nonlinear disordered media
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Date
2024-06
Publication Type
Journal Article
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yes
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Abstract
Neural networks find widespread use in scientific and technological applications, yet their implementations in conventional computers have encountered bottlenecks due to ever-expanding computational needs. Photonic computing is a promising neuromorphic platform with potential advantages of massive parallelism, ultralow latency and reduced energy consumption but mostly for computing linear operations. Here we demonstrate a large-scale, high-performance nonlinear photonic neural system based on a disordered polycrystalline slab composed of lithium niobate nanocrystals. Mediated by random quasi-phase-matching and multiple scattering, linear and nonlinear optical speckle features are generated as the interplay between the simultaneous linear random scattering and the second-harmonic generation, defining a complex neural network in which the second-order nonlinearity acts as internal nonlinear activation functions. Benchmarked against linear random projection, such nonlinear mapping embedded with rich physical computational operations shows improved performance across a large collection of machine learning tasks in image classification, regression and graph classification. Demonstrating up to 27,648 input and 3,500 nonlinear output nodes, the combination of optical nonlinearity and random scattering serves as a scalable computing engine for diverse applications.
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published
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Journal / series
Volume
4 (6)
Pages / Article No.
429 - 439
Publisher
Nature
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Software
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Date collected
Date created
Subject
Nanoparticles; Nonlinear optics; Optical techniques
Organisational unit
09531 - Grange, Rachel / Grange, Rachel
Notes
Funding
213713 - Bottom-Up Assembly of Nonlinear and Electro-Optic Materials for Photonic Integrated Chips (SNF)
179099 - Nonlinear Perovskite Nanomaterials for Metasurfaces and Integrated Photonics (SNF)
714837 - Second-Order Nano-Oxides for Enhanced Nonlinear Photonics (EC)
179099 - Nonlinear Perovskite Nanomaterials for Metasurfaces and Integrated Photonics (SNF)
714837 - Second-Order Nano-Oxides for Enhanced Nonlinear Photonics (EC)