The Goldilocks principle of learning unitaries by interlacing fixed operators with programmable phase shifters on a photonic chip

Abstract Programmable photonic integrated circuits represent an emerging technology that amalgamates photonics and electronics, paving the way for light-based information processing at high speeds and low power consumption. Programmable photonics provides a flexible platform that can be reconfigured...

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Main Authors: Kevin Zelaya, Matthew Markowitz, Mohammad-Ali Miri
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2024-05-01
Series:Scientific Reports
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-60700-8
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author Kevin Zelaya
Matthew Markowitz
Mohammad-Ali Miri
author_facet Kevin Zelaya
Matthew Markowitz
Mohammad-Ali Miri
author_sort Kevin Zelaya
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Programmable photonic integrated circuits represent an emerging technology that amalgamates photonics and electronics, paving the way for light-based information processing at high speeds and low power consumption. Programmable photonics provides a flexible platform that can be reconfigured to perform multiple tasks, thereby holding great promise for revolutionizing future optical networks and quantum computing systems. Over the past decade, there has been constant progress in developing several different architectures for realizing programmable photonic circuits that allow for realizing arbitrary discrete unitary operations with light. Here, we systematically investigate a general family of photonic circuits for realizing arbitrary unitaries based on a simple architecture that interlaces a fixed intervening layer with programmable phase shifter layers. We introduce a criterion for the intervening operator that guarantees the universality of this architecture for representing arbitrary $$N \times N$$ N × N unitary operators with $$N+1$$ N + 1 phase layers. We explore this criterion for different photonic components, including photonic waveguide lattices and meshes of directional couplers, which allows the identification of several families of photonic components that can serve as the intervening layers in the interlacing architecture. Our findings pave the way for efficiently designing and realizing novel families of programmable photonic integrated circuits for multipurpose analog information processing.
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spelling doaj-art-1995e8240cd54e858722d953616631812025-08-20T02:33:31ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222024-05-0114111310.1038/s41598-024-60700-8The Goldilocks principle of learning unitaries by interlacing fixed operators with programmable phase shifters on a photonic chipKevin Zelaya0Matthew Markowitz1Mohammad-Ali Miri2Department of Physics, Queens College of the City University of New YorkDepartment of Physics, Queens College of the City University of New YorkDepartment of Physics, Queens College of the City University of New YorkAbstract Programmable photonic integrated circuits represent an emerging technology that amalgamates photonics and electronics, paving the way for light-based information processing at high speeds and low power consumption. Programmable photonics provides a flexible platform that can be reconfigured to perform multiple tasks, thereby holding great promise for revolutionizing future optical networks and quantum computing systems. Over the past decade, there has been constant progress in developing several different architectures for realizing programmable photonic circuits that allow for realizing arbitrary discrete unitary operations with light. Here, we systematically investigate a general family of photonic circuits for realizing arbitrary unitaries based on a simple architecture that interlaces a fixed intervening layer with programmable phase shifter layers. We introduce a criterion for the intervening operator that guarantees the universality of this architecture for representing arbitrary $$N \times N$$ N × N unitary operators with $$N+1$$ N + 1 phase layers. We explore this criterion for different photonic components, including photonic waveguide lattices and meshes of directional couplers, which allows the identification of several families of photonic components that can serve as the intervening layers in the interlacing architecture. Our findings pave the way for efficiently designing and realizing novel families of programmable photonic integrated circuits for multipurpose analog information processing.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-60700-8On-chip photonic unitUnitary programmable unitRandom matricesWaveguide arraysCoupled mode theoryInterlaced architectures
spellingShingle Kevin Zelaya
Matthew Markowitz
Mohammad-Ali Miri
The Goldilocks principle of learning unitaries by interlacing fixed operators with programmable phase shifters on a photonic chip
Scientific Reports
On-chip photonic unit
Unitary programmable unit
Random matrices
Waveguide arrays
Coupled mode theory
Interlaced architectures
title The Goldilocks principle of learning unitaries by interlacing fixed operators with programmable phase shifters on a photonic chip
title_full The Goldilocks principle of learning unitaries by interlacing fixed operators with programmable phase shifters on a photonic chip
title_fullStr The Goldilocks principle of learning unitaries by interlacing fixed operators with programmable phase shifters on a photonic chip
title_full_unstemmed The Goldilocks principle of learning unitaries by interlacing fixed operators with programmable phase shifters on a photonic chip
title_short The Goldilocks principle of learning unitaries by interlacing fixed operators with programmable phase shifters on a photonic chip
title_sort goldilocks principle of learning unitaries by interlacing fixed operators with programmable phase shifters on a photonic chip
topic On-chip photonic unit
Unitary programmable unit
Random matrices
Waveguide arrays
Coupled mode theory
Interlaced architectures
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-60700-8
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