< Back to previous page
Project
Photonic Ising Machines (FWOEOS20)
Combinatorial optimization is the basis of many computational problems that are commonplace in our society,
e.g. in logistics, finance or pharmaceutical research. However, for many real-world applications, finding a
solution requires high-performance computer clusters that consume large amounts of energy and run for a
long time. This project aims to create a radically new platform of analogue hardware accelerators, so-called
Ising machines, that efficiently speed up these computationally difficult tasks in a way unlike any current digital
computer. These Ising machines are a newly emerging computational concept and have shown great promise.
Yet, their implementation is still highly challenging due to limited bandwidth, scalability and stability issues. A
breakthrough is needed to make them practical for real-world applications. Photonics presents an ideal way to
achieve this breakthrough due to its inherent parallelism and high speed. We aim to create accelerators for a
broad set of problems, that are orders of magnitude faster and more energy efficient than digital computer and state-of-the-art Ising machines.
e.g. in logistics, finance or pharmaceutical research. However, for many real-world applications, finding a
solution requires high-performance computer clusters that consume large amounts of energy and run for a
long time. This project aims to create a radically new platform of analogue hardware accelerators, so-called
Ising machines, that efficiently speed up these computationally difficult tasks in a way unlike any current digital
computer. These Ising machines are a newly emerging computational concept and have shown great promise.
Yet, their implementation is still highly challenging due to limited bandwidth, scalability and stability issues. A
breakthrough is needed to make them practical for real-world applications. Photonics presents an ideal way to
achieve this breakthrough due to its inherent parallelism and high speed. We aim to create accelerators for a
broad set of problems, that are orders of magnitude faster and more energy efficient than digital computer and state-of-the-art Ising machines.
Date:1 Jan 2022 → Today
Keywords:Ising-machines, combinatorial optimisation
Disciplines:Photonics, optoelectronics and optical communications, Nonlinear optics and spectroscopy, Quantum information, computation and communication, Neuromorphic computing, Nonlinear sciences