Performing photonic nonlinear computations by linear operations in a high-dimensional space

Wenkai Zhang, Wentao Gu, Junwei Cheng, Dongmei Huang, Zihao Cheng, Ping Kong Alexander Wai, Hailong Zhou*, Jianji Dong*, Xinliang Zhang

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

As photonic linear computations are diverse and easy to realize while photonic nonlinear computations are relatively limited and difficult, we propose a novel way to perform photonic nonlinear computations by linear operations in a high-dimensional space, which can achieve many nonlinear functions different from existing optical methods. As a practical application, the arbitrary binary nonlinear computations between two Boolean signals are demonstrated to implement a programmable logic array. In the experiment, by programming the high-dimensional photonic matrix multiplier, we execute fourteen different logic operations with only one fixed nonlinear operation. Then the combined logic functions of half-adder and comparator are demonstrated at 10 Gbit/s. Compared with current methods, the proposed scheme simplifies the devices and the nonlinear operations for programmable logic computing. More importantly, nonlinear realization assisted by space transformation offers a new solution for optical digital computing and enriches the diversity of photonic nonlinear computing.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3189-3197
Number of pages9
JournalNanophotonics
Volume12
Issue number15
Early online date19 Jun 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Jul 2023

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Biotechnology
  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

User-Defined Keywords

  • microring resonator
  • optical digital computing
  • silicon photonics

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