Dammann gratings-based truly parallel optical matrix multiplication accelerator

Abstract

Matrix multiplication (MM) is a fundamental operation in various scientific and engineering computations, as well as in artificial intelligence algorithms. Efficient implementation of MM is crucial for speeding up numerous applications. Photonics presents an opportunity for efficient acceleration of dense matrix computation, owing to its intrinsic advantages, such as huge parallelism, low latency, and low power consumption. However, most optical matrix computing architectures have been limited to realizing single-channel vector–matrix multiplication or using complex configurations to expand the number of channels, which does not fully exploit the parallelism of optics. In this study, we propose a novel, to the best of our knowledge, scheme for the implementation of large-scale two-dimensional optical MM with truly massive parallelism based on a specially designed Dammann grating. We demonstrate a sequence of MMs of 50 pairs of randomly generated 4 × 8 and 8 × 4 matrices in our proof-of-principle experiment. The results indicate that the mean relative error is approximately 0.048, thereby demonstrating optical robustness and high accuracy.

Nanosecond Laser Fabrication of Dammann Grating-like Structure on Glass for Bessel-Beam Array Generation

“…The optical beams in one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) array formats find numerous applications in emerging fields such as microscopy [1,2], photonics [3,4], nonlinear optics [5,6], optical trapping [7], beam shaping [8], laser fabrication [9,10], etc. For instance, Pushkarev et al [6] have demonstrated arrays of nonlinear stable beams, often referred to as filament, using optical array generators such as phase plate and Dammann grating.…”

“…Similarly, Zhu et al [9] have demonstrated parallel fabrication capability using multifocal spots generated by a spatial light modulator (SLM) and a high numerical aperture (NA) objective lens. Ma et al [3] have demonstrated matrix multiplications of 50 pairs of 4 * 8 matrices using Dammann gratings involving digital micro-mirror arrays. The parallel multiphoton microscopy of microspheres and nanorods was also demonstrated by Gu et al [1], wherein they generated [2 × 2] multifocal arrays using an SLM.…”