Performing photonic nonlinear computations by linear operations in a high‐dimensional space
Wenkai Zhang, Wentao Gu, Junwei Cheng, Dongmei Huang, Zihao Cheng, Ping‐kong Alexander Wai, Hailong Zhou, Jianji Dong, Xinliang Zhang
Abstract
As photonic linear computations are diverse and easy to realize while photonic nonlinear computations are relatively limited and difficult, we propose a novel way to perform photonic nonlinear computations by linear operations in a high-dimensional space, which can achieve many nonlinear functions different from existing optical methods. As a practical application, the arbitrary binary nonlinear computations between two Boolean signals are demonstrated to implement a programmable logic array. In the experiment, by programming the high-dimensional photonic matrix multiplier, we execute fourteen different logic operations with only one fixed nonlinear operation. Then the combined logic functions of half-adder and comparator are demonstrated at 10 Gbit/s. Compared with current methods, the proposed scheme simplifies the devices and the nonlinear operations for programmable logic computing. More importantly, nonlinear realization assisted by space transformation offers a new solution for optical digital computing and enriches the diversity of photonic nonlinear computing.