Efficient off-chip configuration method for scalable programmable photonic integrated circuits

Abstract Programmable photonic integrated circuits can realize analog matrix multiplication to accelerate computing disruptively in various fields. However, a major challenge is the precise voltage configuration of the circuit to deal with the universal static error derived from manufacturing. Here,...

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Main Authors: ZeYang Fan, JunMin Lin, Tian Zhang, Jian Dai, XingYuan Xu, Kun Xu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-05-01
Series:Communications Physics
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-025-02135-9
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author ZeYang Fan
JunMin Lin
Tian Zhang
Jian Dai
XingYuan Xu
Kun Xu
author_facet ZeYang Fan
JunMin Lin
Tian Zhang
Jian Dai
XingYuan Xu
Kun Xu
author_sort ZeYang Fan
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Programmable photonic integrated circuits can realize analog matrix multiplication to accelerate computing disruptively in various fields. However, a major challenge is the precise voltage configuration of the circuit to deal with the universal static error derived from manufacturing. Here, we propose a complete off-chip method based on the combination of gradient descent and genetic algorithms to find the optimal configuration for an arbitrary matrix, enabling imperfect circuits to achieve excellent performance. In the simulation, we demonstrated that our method implements an arbitrary matrix with an average fidelity of 0.992 on a Mach–Zehnder-interferometer-based circuit with up to 28 input ports. Experimentally, we demonstrated superior performance on the circuit with 4 input ports, including training a theoretical model that characterized the experimental imperfections of the fabricated chip and obtaining the optimal configuration for permutation matrices with near-one fidelity and for 100 unitary matrices with a 0.985 average fidelity.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2399-3650
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publishDate 2025-05-01
publisher Nature Portfolio
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series Communications Physics
spelling doaj-art-00a9bf2ac21b4f4daf7eedb2e2c329ca2025-08-20T04:03:07ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Physics2399-36502025-05-01811910.1038/s42005-025-02135-9Efficient off-chip configuration method for scalable programmable photonic integrated circuitsZeYang Fan0JunMin Lin1Tian Zhang2Jian Dai3XingYuan Xu4Kun Xu5State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications, Beijing University of Posts and TelecommunicationsProduct and Research & Development Department, China Telecom Unmanned Technology (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd.State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications, Beijing University of Posts and TelecommunicationsState Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications, Beijing University of Posts and TelecommunicationsState Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications, Beijing University of Posts and TelecommunicationsState Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications, Beijing University of Posts and TelecommunicationsAbstract Programmable photonic integrated circuits can realize analog matrix multiplication to accelerate computing disruptively in various fields. However, a major challenge is the precise voltage configuration of the circuit to deal with the universal static error derived from manufacturing. Here, we propose a complete off-chip method based on the combination of gradient descent and genetic algorithms to find the optimal configuration for an arbitrary matrix, enabling imperfect circuits to achieve excellent performance. In the simulation, we demonstrated that our method implements an arbitrary matrix with an average fidelity of 0.992 on a Mach–Zehnder-interferometer-based circuit with up to 28 input ports. Experimentally, we demonstrated superior performance on the circuit with 4 input ports, including training a theoretical model that characterized the experimental imperfections of the fabricated chip and obtaining the optimal configuration for permutation matrices with near-one fidelity and for 100 unitary matrices with a 0.985 average fidelity.https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-025-02135-9
spellingShingle ZeYang Fan
JunMin Lin
Tian Zhang
Jian Dai
XingYuan Xu
Kun Xu
Efficient off-chip configuration method for scalable programmable photonic integrated circuits
Communications Physics
title Efficient off-chip configuration method for scalable programmable photonic integrated circuits
title_full Efficient off-chip configuration method for scalable programmable photonic integrated circuits
title_fullStr Efficient off-chip configuration method for scalable programmable photonic integrated circuits
title_full_unstemmed Efficient off-chip configuration method for scalable programmable photonic integrated circuits
title_short Efficient off-chip configuration method for scalable programmable photonic integrated circuits
title_sort efficient off chip configuration method for scalable programmable photonic integrated circuits
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-025-02135-9
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AT tianzhang efficientoffchipconfigurationmethodforscalableprogrammablephotonicintegratedcircuits
AT jiandai efficientoffchipconfigurationmethodforscalableprogrammablephotonicintegratedcircuits
AT xingyuanxu efficientoffchipconfigurationmethodforscalableprogrammablephotonicintegratedcircuits
AT kunxu efficientoffchipconfigurationmethodforscalableprogrammablephotonicintegratedcircuits