Decision making based on optical excitation transfer via near-field interactions between quantum dots

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how optical excitation transfer between quantum dots can be engineered to perform decision making tasks, showcasing a novel approach to nanophotonic systems with intelligent capabilities.

Contribution

It introduces an experimental method to solve decision problems using near-field optical interactions in colloidal quantum dots, advancing nanophotonic decision-making systems.

Findings

Successfully solved a multi-armed bandit problem using quantum dot interactions.

Controlled optical excitation transfer with different light patterns.

Demonstrated potential for nanophotonic decision-making devices.

Abstract

Optical near-field interactions between nanostructured matter, such as quantum dots, result in unidirectional optical excitation transfer when energy dissipation is induced. This results in versatile spatiotemporal dynamics of the optical excitation, which can be controlled by engineering the dissipation processes and exploited to realize intelligent capabilities such as solution searching and decision making. Here we experimentally demonstrate the ability to solve a decision making problem on the basis of optical excitation transfer via near-field interactions by using colloidal quantum dots of different sizes, formed on a geometry-controlled substrate. We characterize the energy transfer behavior due to multiple control light patterns and experimentally demonstrate the ability to solve the multi-armed bandit problem. Our work makes a decisive step towards the practical design of nanophotonic systems capable of efficient decision making, one of the most important intellectual attributes of the human brain.