Reservoir computing for equalization in a self-coherent receiver scheme.

Short-reach optical networks, the backbone of data centers, face a significant challenge: transmitting high data rates at low cost and low energy consumption. While coherent signals can carry high data rates, coherent receivers are expensive and complex. Also, to equalize channel dispersion, they rely on digital signal processing modules, which consume large amounts of power and introduce more latency.

Emergent Self-Adaptation in an Integrated Photonic Neural Network for Backpropagation-Free Learning.

Plastic self-adaptation, nonlinear recurrent dynamics and multi-scale memory are desired features in hardware implementations of neural networks, because they enable them to learn, adapt, and process information similarly to the way biological brains do. In this work, these properties occurring in arrays of photonic neurons are experimentally demonstrated. Importantly, this is realized autonomously in an emergent fashion, without the need for an external controller setting weights and without explicit feedback of a global reward signal.

Combining a passive spatial photonic reservoir computer with a semiconductor laser increases its nonlinear computational capacity.

Photonic reservoir computing has been used to efficiently solve difficult and time-consuming problems. The physical implementations of such reservoirs offer low power consumption and fast processing speed due to their photonic nature. In this paper, we investigate the computational capacity of a passive spatially distributed reservoir computing system.

Opto-electronic machine learning network for Kramers-Kronig receiver linearization.

We numerically demonstrate the use of an opto-electronic network comprising a photonic reservoir and an electronic feedforward equalizer (FFE) to linearize a Kramers-Kronig (KK) receiver. The KK receiver is operated under stringent conditions, with restricted sampling rates and low carrier powers, resulting in a nonlinear behavior. We propose two different network configurations, varying in the placement of the FFE component, and evaluate their ability to linearize the KK receiver.

Partial coherence enhances parallelized photonic computing.

Advancements in optical coherence control have unlocked many cutting-edge applications, including long-haul communication, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and optical coherence tomography. Prevailing wisdom suggests that using more coherent light sources leads to enhanced system performance and device functionalities. Our study introduces a photonic convolutional processing system that takes advantage of partially coherent light to boost computing parallelism without substantially sacrificing accuracy, potentially enabling larger-size photonic tensor cores.

Enhancing the performance of coherent Ising machines in the large-noise regime with a fifth-order nonlinearity.

Coherent Ising machines (CIMs), leveraging the bistable physical properties of coherent light to emulate Ising spins, exhibit great potential as hardware accelerators for tackling complex combinatorial optimization problems. Recent advances have demonstrated that the performance of CIMs can be enhanced either by incorporating large random noise or higher-order nonlinearities, yet their combined effects on CIM performance remain mainly unexplored. In this work, we develop a numerical CIM model that utilizes a tunable fifth-order polynomial nonlinear dynamic function under large noise levels, which has the potential to be implemented in all-optical platforms.

Surrogate gradient learning in spiking networks trained on event-based cytometry dataset.

Spiking neural networks (SNNs) are bio-inspired neural networks that - to an extent - mimic the workings of our brains. In a similar fashion, event-based vision sensors try to replicate a biological eye as closely as possible. In this work, we integrate both technologies for the purpose of classifying micro-particles in the context of label-free flow cytometry.

A recurrent Gaussian quantum network for online processing of quantum time series.

Over the last decade, researchers have studied the interplay between quantum computing and classical machine learning algorithms. However, measurements often disturb or destroy quantum states, requiring multiple repetitions of data processing to estimate observable values. In particular, this prevents online (real-time, single-shot) processing of temporal data as measurements are commonly performed during intermediate stages.

Emerging opportunities and challenges for the future of reservoir computing.

Reservoir computing originates in the early 2000s, the core idea being to utilize dynamical systems as reservoirs (nonlinear generalizations of standard bases) to adaptively learn spatiotemporal features and hidden patterns in complex time series. Shown to have the potential of achieving higher-precision prediction in chaotic systems, those pioneering works led to a great amount of interest and follow-ups in the community of nonlinear dynamics and complex systems. To unlock the full capabilities of reservoir computing towards a fast, lightweight, and significantly more interpretable learning framework for temporal dynamical systems, substantially more research is needed.

Experimental results on nonlinear distortion compensation using photonic reservoir computing with a single set of weights for different wavelengths.

Photonics-based computing approaches in combination with wavelength division multiplexing offer a potential solution to modern data and bandwidth needs. This paper experimentally takes an important step towards wavelength division multiplexing in an integrated waveguide-based photonic reservoir computing platform by using a single set of readout weights for up to at least 3 ITU-T channels to efficiently scale the data bandwidth when processing a nonlinear signal equalization task on a 28 Gbps modulated on-off keying signal. Using multiple-wavelength training, we obtain bit error rates well below that of the [Formula: see text] forward error correction limit at high fiber input powers of 18 dBm, which result in high nonlinear distortion.

Threshold plasticity of SOI-GST microring resonators.

Spiking Neural Networks, also known as third generation Artificial Neural Networks, have widely attracted more attention because of their advantages of behaving more biologically interpretable and being more suitable for hardware implementation. Apart from using traditional synaptic plasticity, neural networks can also be based on threshold plasticity, achieving similar functionality. This can be implemented using e.

Integrated photonic reservoir computing with an all-optical readout.

Integrated photonic reservoir computing has been demonstrated to be able to tackle different problems because of its neural network nature. A key advantage of photonic reservoir computing over other neuromorphic paradigms is its straightforward readout system, which facilitates both rapid training and robust, fabrication variation-insensitive photonic integrated hardware implementation for real-time processing. We present our recent development of a fully-optical, coherent photonic reservoir chip integrated with an optical readout system, capitalizing on these benefits.

Programmable low-power consumption all-optical nonlinear activation functions using a micro-ring resonator with phase-change materials.

A programmable hardware implementation of all-optical nonlinear activation functions for different scenarios and applications in all-optical neural networks is essential. We demonstrate a programmable, low-loss all-optical activation function device based on a silicon micro-ring resonator loaded with phase change materials. Four different nonlinear activation functions of Relu, ELU, Softplus and radial basis functions are implemented for incident signal light of the same wavelength.

Photonic reservoir computing for nonlinear equalization of 64-QAM signals with a Kramers-Kronig receiver.

Photonic reservoirs are machine learning based systems that boast energy efficiency and speediness. Thus they can be deployed as optical processors in fiber communication systems to aid or replace digital signal equalization. In this paper, we simulate the use of a passive photonic reservoir to target nonlinearity-induced errors originating from self-phase modulation in the fiber and from the nonlinear response of the modulator.

Transfer learning for photonic delay-based reservoir computing to compensate parameter drift.

Photonic reservoir computing has been demonstrated to be able to solve various complex problems. Although training a reservoir computing system is much simpler compared to other neural network approaches, it still requires considerable amounts of resources which becomes an issue when retraining is required. Transfer learning is a technique that allows us to re-use information between tasks, thereby reducing the cost of retraining.

Rigorous dynamic model of a silicon ring resonator with phase change material for a neuromorphic node.

The photonics platform has been considered increasingly promising for neuromorphic computing, due to its potential in providing low latency and energy efficient large-scale parallel connectivity. Phase change materials (PCMs) have been recently employed to introduce all-optical non-volatile memory in integrated photonic circuits, especially finding application as non-volatile weighting element in photonic artificial neural networks. Interestingly, these weighting elements can potentially be used as building blocks for large-scale networks that can autonomously adapt to their input, i.

Wavelength dimension in waveguide-based photonic reservoir computing.

Existing work on coherent photonic reservoir computing (PRC) mostly concentrates on single-wavelength solutions. In this paper, we discuss the opportunities and challenges related to exploiting the wavelength dimension in integrated photonic reservoir computing systems. Different strategies are presented to be able to process several wavelengths in parallel using the same readout.

Influence of the input signal's phase modulation on the performance of optical delay-based reservoir computing using semiconductor lasers.

In photonic reservoir computing, semiconductor lasers with delayed feedback have shown to be suited to efficiently solve difficult and time-consuming problems. The input data in this system is often optically injected into the reservoir. Based on numerical simulations, we show that the performance depends heavily on the way that information is encoded in this optical injection signal.

Comparing different nonlinearities in readout systems for optical neuromorphic computing networks.

Nonlinear activation is a crucial building block of most machine-learning systems. However, unlike in the digital electrical domain, applying a saturating nonlinear function in a neural network in the analog optical domain is not as easy, especially in integrated systems. In this paper, we first investigate in detail the photodetector nonlinearity in two main readout schemes: electrical readout and optical readout.

Experimental realization of integrated photonic reservoir computing for nonlinear fiber distortion compensation.

Nonlinearity mitigation in optical fiber networks is typically handled by electronic Digital Signal Processing (DSP) chips. Such DSP chips are costly, power-hungry and can introduce high latencies. Therefore, optical techniques are investigated which are more efficient in both power consumption and processing cost.

Addressing limited weight resolution in a fully optical neuromorphic reservoir computing readout.

Using optical hardware for neuromorphic computing has become more and more popular recently, due to its efficient high-speed data processing capabilities and low power consumption. However, there are still some remaining obstacles to realizing the vision of a completely optical neuromorphic computer. One of them is that, depending on the technology used, optical weighting elements may not share the same resolution as in the electrical domain.

Simulating self-learning in photorefractive optical reservoir computers.

Photorefractive materials exhibit an interesting plasticity under the influence of an optical field. By extending the finite-difference time-domain method to include the photorefractive effect, we explore how this property can be exploited in the context of neuromorphic computing for telecom applications. By first priming the photorefractive material with a random bit stream, the material reorganizes itself to better recognize simple patterns in the stream.

Machine learning issues and opportunities in ultrafast particle classification for label-free microflow cytometry.

Machine learning offers promising solutions for high-throughput single-particle analysis in label-free imaging microflow cytomtery. However, the throughput of online operations such as cell sorting is often limited by the large computational cost of the image analysis while offline operations may require the storage of an exceedingly large amount of data. Moreover, the training of machine learning systems can be easily biased by slight drifts of the measurement conditions, giving rise to a significant but difficult to detect degradation of the learned operations.

A training algorithm for networks of high-variability reservoirs.

Physical reservoir computing approaches have gained increased attention in recent years due to their potential for low-energy high-performance computing. Despite recent successes, there are bounds to what one can achieve simply by making physical reservoirs larger. Therefore, we argue that a switch from single-reservoir computing to multi-reservoir and even deep physical reservoir computing is desirable.