# Demonstrating completeness in optical neural computing

**Authors:** Krzysztof Tyszka

PMC · DOI: 10.1038/s41377-025-02123-2 · 2026-01-03

## TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a complete optical neural network using silicon photonics for fast and energy-efficient computing.

## Contribution

The novel contribution is an integrated optical neural network with on-chip nonlinear activations for end-to-end inference.

## Key findings

- The optical neural network uses partially coherent light for high-speed inference.
- The system integrates convolutional and fully connected layers with optoelectronic nonlinear activations.
- It provides a scalable platform for evaluating optical neural processing beyond traditional electronics.

## Abstract

A silicon photonic deep optical neural network integrating convolutional and fully connected layers with on-chip optoelectronic nonlinear activations operates with partially coherent light to achieve high-speed, energy-efficient, end-to-end inference. This demonstration establishes a functional and scalable platform for evaluating complete optical neural processing, representing another step toward specialised, ultrafast photonic architectures beyond electronics.

## Full-text entities

- **Chemicals:** silicon (MESH:D012825)

## Figures

1 figure with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12764856/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12764856