16-channel photonic solver for optimization problems on a silicon chip

A programmable photonic solver for quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) problems is demonstrated with a hybrid optoelectronic scheme, which consists of a photonic chip and an electronic driving board. The photonic chip is employed to perform the optical vector-matrix multiplication (OV...

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Main Authors: Jiayi Ouyang, Shengping Liu, Ziyue Yang, Wei Wang, Xue Feng, Yongzhuo Li, Yidong Huang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-03-01
Series:Chip
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2709472324000352
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author Jiayi Ouyang
Shengping Liu
Ziyue Yang
Wei Wang
Xue Feng
Yongzhuo Li
Yidong Huang
author_facet Jiayi Ouyang
Shengping Liu
Ziyue Yang
Wei Wang
Xue Feng
Yongzhuo Li
Yidong Huang
author_sort Jiayi Ouyang
collection DOAJ
description A programmable photonic solver for quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) problems is demonstrated with a hybrid optoelectronic scheme, which consists of a photonic chip and an electronic driving board. The photonic chip is employed to perform the optical vector-matrix multiplication (OVMM) to calculate the cost function of the QUBO problem, while the electronic processor runs the heuristic algorithm to search for the optimal solution. Due to the parallel and low-latency propagation of lightwaves, the calculation of the cost function can be accelerated. The photonic chip was fabricated on the silicon on insulator (SOI) substrate and integrated 16 high-speed electro-optic modulators, 88 thermo-optic phase shifters, and 16 balanced photodetectors. The computing speed of the photonic chip is 1.66 TFLOP/s. As a proof of principle, two randomly generated 16-dimensional QUBO problems are solved with high successful probabilities. These results present the potential of fast-solving optimization problems with integrated photonic systems.
format Article
id doaj-art-27c697c02b9e4eae8b6dff03dfb5b7d4
institution DOAJ
issn 2709-4723
language English
publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Chip
spelling doaj-art-27c697c02b9e4eae8b6dff03dfb5b7d42025-08-20T02:54:25ZengElsevierChip2709-47232025-03-014110011710.1016/j.chip.2024.10011716-channel photonic solver for optimization problems on a silicon chipJiayi Ouyang0Shengping Liu1Ziyue Yang2Wei Wang3Xue Feng4Yongzhuo Li5Yidong Huang6Department of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, ChinaChongqing United Microelectronics Center, Chongqing 100290, ChinaDepartment of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, ChinaChongqing United Microelectronics Center, Chongqing 100290, ChinaDepartment of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Corresponding authors.Department of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, ChinaDepartment of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Corresponding authors.A programmable photonic solver for quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) problems is demonstrated with a hybrid optoelectronic scheme, which consists of a photonic chip and an electronic driving board. The photonic chip is employed to perform the optical vector-matrix multiplication (OVMM) to calculate the cost function of the QUBO problem, while the electronic processor runs the heuristic algorithm to search for the optimal solution. Due to the parallel and low-latency propagation of lightwaves, the calculation of the cost function can be accelerated. The photonic chip was fabricated on the silicon on insulator (SOI) substrate and integrated 16 high-speed electro-optic modulators, 88 thermo-optic phase shifters, and 16 balanced photodetectors. The computing speed of the photonic chip is 1.66 TFLOP/s. As a proof of principle, two randomly generated 16-dimensional QUBO problems are solved with high successful probabilities. These results present the potential of fast-solving optimization problems with integrated photonic systems.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2709472324000352Optical computingOptimization problemIntegrated photonics
spellingShingle Jiayi Ouyang
Shengping Liu
Ziyue Yang
Wei Wang
Xue Feng
Yongzhuo Li
Yidong Huang
16-channel photonic solver for optimization problems on a silicon chip
Chip
Optical computing
Optimization problem
Integrated photonics
title 16-channel photonic solver for optimization problems on a silicon chip
title_full 16-channel photonic solver for optimization problems on a silicon chip
title_fullStr 16-channel photonic solver for optimization problems on a silicon chip
title_full_unstemmed 16-channel photonic solver for optimization problems on a silicon chip
title_short 16-channel photonic solver for optimization problems on a silicon chip
title_sort 16 channel photonic solver for optimization problems on a silicon chip
topic Optical computing
Optimization problem
Integrated photonics
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2709472324000352
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