Laser & Optoelectronics Progress, Volume. 62, Issue 17, 1739002(2025)

Physical Architecture and Application for Optical Computing (Invited)

Shengbing Guo1,2, Wenzhe Liu1,2,3, Jiajun Wang1,2、***, Minjia Zheng1,2、**, and Lei Shi1,2,3、*
Author Affiliations
  • 1Shanghai Research Center for Quantum Sciences, Shanghai 201315, China
  • 2State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, Key Laboratory of Micro- and Nano-Photonic Structures (Ministry of Education), Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
  • 3Institute for Nanoelectronic Devices and Quantum Computing, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
  • show less

    Optical computing is a novel computational architecture based on the manipulation of photons or optical fields rather than electrons, utilizing light for information encoding, transmitting, and processing. In recent years, optical computing has leveraged independent information dimensions of photons, such as polarization, frequency, and orbital angular momentum, leading to the emergence of numerous novel architectures. Concurrently, the integration of deep-learning-driven structural design has enabled these architectures to demonstrate exceptional performance in tasks including matrix operation and image processing. This paper begins with the physical foundations of optical computing, systematically summarizes and discusses the principal architectures of free-space diffractive and on-chip integrated optical computing. Furthermore, this paper concludes by highlighting the pressing challenges confronting current developments in optical computing and provides perspectives on future trends in this field.

    Keywords
    Tools

    Get Citation

    Copy Citation Text

    Shengbing Guo, Wenzhe Liu, Jiajun Wang, Minjia Zheng, Lei Shi. Physical Architecture and Application for Optical Computing (Invited)[J]. Laser & Optoelectronics Progress, 2025, 62(17): 1739002

    Download Citation

    EndNote(RIS)BibTexPlain Text
    Save article for my favorites
    Paper Information

    Category: AI for Optics

    Received: May. 21, 2025

    Accepted: Jun. 30, 2025

    Published Online: Sep. 11, 2025

    The Author Email: Jiajun Wang (jiajunwang@fudan.edu.cn), Minjia Zheng (mjzheng@fudan.edu.cn), Lei Shi (lshi@fudan.edu.cn)

    DOI:10.3788/LOP251285

    CSTR:32186.14.LOP251285

    Topics