Publication date: 13th July 2024
There are problems in science and engineering that require computation times that exceed the age of the Universe or that are by nature incalculable and therefore existing computational architectures cannot solve. Some of these challenging problems can be readily addressed by simulators, also known as optimizers, by mapping the problem to the parameters of a specific physical system and allowing it to evolve until it equilibrates. The interest in using an analogue simulator for finding the global minimum is further motivated by recent results in the theory of quantum complexity which states that there exist universal Hamiltonians such that all other classical spin models can be reproduced within such a model, and certain simple Hamiltonians are already universal.
In this project, we propose a holography based non-linear femtosecond Ising Machine that utilizes and enhances newly established holographic and nonlinear photonics principles for the efficient solution of combinatorial optimization problems (COPs). The main features are: i) the augmentation and enhancement of the capabilities of a Spatial Holographic Ising Machine to be able to solve COPs, ii) expand the device’s capabilities to accommodate, plug-in additional nonlinear optical elements, enabling higher order spin-spin interactions.