Diffractive optical computing in free space

Jingtian Hu; Deniz Mengu; Dimitrios C. Tzarouchis; Brian Edwards; Nader Engheta; Aydogan Ozcan

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-45982-w

journal article Open Access Feb 20, 2024

Diffractive optical computing in free space

Jingtian Hu

Deniz Mengu

Dimitrios C. Tzarouchis Brian Edwards

Nader Engheta

Aydogan Ozcan

Nature Communications Vol. 15 No. 1 · Springer Science and Business Media LLC

View at Publisher Save 10.1038/s41467-024-45982-w

Abstract

AbstractStructured optical materials create new computing paradigms using photons, with transformative impact on various fields, including machine learning, computer vision, imaging, telecommunications, and sensing. This Perspective sheds light on the potential of free-space optical systems based on engineered surfaces for advancing optical computing. Manipulating light in unprecedented ways, emerging structured surfaces enable all-optical implementation of various mathematical functions and machine learning tasks. Diffractive networks, in particular, bring deep-learning principles into the design and operation of free-space optical systems to create new functionalities. Metasurfaces consisting of deeply subwavelength units are achieving exotic optical responses that provide independent control over different properties of light and can bring major advances in computational throughput and data-transfer bandwidth of free-space optical processors. Unlike integrated photonics-based optoelectronic systems that demand preprocessed inputs, free-space optical processors have direct access to all the optical degrees of freedom that carry information about an input scene/object without needing digital recovery or preprocessing of information. To realize the full potential of free-space optical computing architectures, diffractive surfaces and metasurfaces need to advance symbiotically and co-evolve in their designs, 3D fabrication/integration, cascadability, and computing accuracy to serve the needs of next-generation machine vision, computational imaging, mathematical computing, and telecommunication technologies.

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References

Details

Published: Feb 20, 2024
Vol/Issue: 15(1)
License: View

Authors

Dimitrios C. Tzarouchis

B

Brian Edwards

Assistant Professor, Department of Kinesiology and Health Wright State University, 725 University Blvd, Dayton, OH 45435, Phone: 937.245.7622, Email: brian.edwards@wright.edu

Cite This Article

Jingtian Hu, Deniz Mengu, Dimitrios C. Tzarouchis, et al. (2024). Diffractive optical computing in free space. Nature Communications, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45982-w

Diffractive optical computing in free space

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