No Arabic abstract
Distance geometry problem belongs to a class of hard problems in classical computation that can be understood in terms of a set of inputs processed according to a given transformation, and for which the number of possible outcomes grows exponentially with the number of inputs. It is conjectured that quantum computing schemes can solve problems belonging to this class in a time that grows only at a polynomial rate with the number of inputs. While quantum computers are still being developed, there are some classical optics computation approaches that can perform very well for specific tasks. Here, we present an optical computing approach for the distance geometry problem in one dimension and show that it is very promising in the classical computing regime.
Calculation of band structure of three dimensional photonic crystals amounts to solving large-scale Maxwell eigenvalue problems, which are notoriously challenging due to high multiplicity of zero eigenvalue. In this paper, we try to address this problem in such a broad context that band structure of three dimensional isotropic photonic crystals with all 14 Bravais lattices can be efficiently computed in a unified framework. We uncover the delicate machinery behind several key results of our work and on the basis of this new understanding we drastically simplify the derivations, proofs and arguments in our framework. In this work particular effort is made on reformulating the Bloch boundary condition for all 14 Bravais lattices in the redefined orthogonal coordinate system, and establishing eigen-decomposition of discrete partial derivative operators by systematic use of commutativity among them, which has been overlooked previously, and reducing eigen-decomposition of double-curl operator to the canonical form of a 3x3 complex skew-symmetric matrix under unitary congruence. With the validity of the novel nullspace free method in the broad context, we perform some calculations on one benchmark system to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of our algorithm.
A programmable optical computer has remained an elusive concept. To construct a practical computing primitive equivalent to an electronic Boolean logic, one should find a nonlinear phenomenon that overcomes weaknesses present in many optical processing schemes. Ideally, the nonlinearity should provide a functionally complete set of logic operations, enable ultrafast all-optical programmability, and allow cascaded operations without a change in the operating wavelength or in the signal encoding format. Here we demonstrate a programmable logic gate using an injection-locked Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL). The gate program is switched between the AND and the OR operations at the rate of 1 GHz with Bit Error Ratio (BER) of 10e-6 without changes in the wavelength or in the signal encoding format. The scheme is based on nonlinearity of normalization operations, which can be used to construct any continuous complex function or operation, Boolean or otherwise.
The subset sum problem is a typical NP-complete problem that is hard to solve efficiently in time due to the intrinsic superpolynomial-scaling property. Increasing the problem size results in a vast amount of time consuming in conventionally available computers. Photons possess the unique features of extremely high propagation speed, weak interaction with environment and low detectable energy level, therefore can be a promising candidate to meet the challenge by constructing an a photonic computer computer. However, most of optical computing schemes, like Fourier transformation, require very high operation precision and are hard to scale up. Here, we present a chip built-in photonic computer to efficiently solve the subset sum problem. We successfully map the problem into a waveguide network in three dimensions by using femtosecond laser direct writing technique. We show that the photons are able to sufficiently dissipate into the networks and search all the possible paths for solutions in parallel. In the case of successive primes the proposed approach exhibits a dominant superiority in time consumption even compared with supercomputers. Our results confirm the ability of light to realize a complicated computational function that is intractable with conventional computers, and suggest the subset sum problem as a good benchmarking platform for the race between photonic and conventional computers on the way towards photonic supremacy.
Collocated data processing and storage are the norm in biological systems. Indeed, the von Neumann computing architecture, that physically and temporally separates processing and memory, was born more of pragmatism based on available technology. As our ability to create better hardware improves, new computational paradigms are being explored. Integrated photonic circuits are regarded as an attractive solution for on-chip computing using only light, leveraging the increased speed and bandwidth potential of working in the optical domain, and importantly, removing the need for time and energy sapping electro-optical
Optical computing has emerged as a promising candidate for real-time and parallel continuous data processing. Motivated by recent progresses in metamaterial-based analog computing [Science 343, 160 (2014)], we theoretically investigate realization of two-dimensional complex mathematical operations using rotated configurations, recently reported in [Opt. Lett. 39, 1278 (2014)]. Breaking the reflection symmetry, such configurations could realize both even and odd Greens functions associated with spatial operators. Based on such appealing theory and by using Brewster effect, we demonstrate realization of a first-order differentiator. Such efficient wave-based computation method not only circumvents the major potential drawbacks of metamaterials, but also offers the most compact possible device compared to the conventional bulky lens-based optical signal and data processors.