Scaling optical computing in synthetic frequency dimension using integrated cavity acousto-optics

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates large-scale, complex-valued matrix-vector multiplications on synthetic frequency lattices using silicon-based nanophotonic cavity acousto-optic modulators, enabling scalable and efficient integrated optical computing.

Contribution

It introduces a novel silicon-based nanophotonic cavity acousto-optic modulator capable of full-range phase-coherent frequency conversions across synthetic frequency lattices for optical computing.

Findings

Achieved full-range phase-coherent frequency conversions in a single modulator.

Enabled large-scale matrix-vector multiplications on synthetic frequency lattices.

Demonstrated potential for scalable, integrated optical computing systems.

Abstract

Optical computing with integrated photonics brings a pivotal paradigm shift to data-intensive computing technologies. However, the scaling of on-chip photonic architectures using spatially distributed schemes faces the challenge imposed by the fundamental limit of integration density. Synthetic dimensions of light offer the opportunity to extend the length of operand vectors within a single photonic component. Here, we show that large-scale, complex-valued matrix-vector multiplications on synthetic frequency lattices can be performed using an ultra-efficient, silicon-based nanophotonic cavity acousto-optic modulator. By harnessing the resonantly enhanced strong electro-optomechanical coupling, we achieve, in a single such modulator, the full-range phase-coherent frequency conversions across the entire synthetic lattice, which constitute a fully connected linear computing layer. Our demonstrations open up the route towards the experimental realizations of frequency-domain integrated optical computing systems simultaneously featuring very large-scale data processing and small device footprints.