Toward Large-Scale Photonics-Empowered AI Systems: From Physical Design Automation to System-Algorithm Co-Exploration

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Yin, Ziang, Zhou, Hongjian, Gangi, Nicholas, Zhang, Meng, Zhang, Jeff, Huang, Zhaoran Rena, Gu, Jiaqi
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Yin, Ziang
Zhou, Hongjian
Gangi, Nicholas
Zhang, Meng
Zhang, Jeff
Huang, Zhaoran Rena
Gu, Jiaqi
author_facet Yin, Ziang
Zhou, Hongjian
Gangi, Nicholas
Zhang, Meng
Zhang, Jeff
Huang, Zhaoran Rena
Gu, Jiaqi
contents In this work, we identify three considerations that are essential for realizing practical photonic AI systems at scale: (1) dynamic tensor operation support for modern models rather than only weight-static kernels, especially for attention/Transformer-style workloads; (2) systematic management of conversion, control, and data-movement overheads, where multiplexing and dataflow must amortize electronic costs instead of letting ADC/DAC and I/O dominate; and (3) robustness under hardware non-idealities that become more severe as integration density grows. To study these coupled tradeoffs quantitatively, and to ensure they remain meaningful under real implementation constraints, we build a cross-layer toolchain that supports photonic AI design from early exploration to physical realization. SimPhony provides implementation-aware modeling and rapid cross-layer evaluation, translating physical costs into system-level metrics so architectural decisions are grounded in realistic assumptions. ADEPT and ADEPT-Z enable end-to-end circuit and topology exploration, connecting system objectives to feasible photonic fabrics under practical device and circuit constraints. Finally, Apollo and LiDAR provide scalable photonic physical design automation, turning candidate circuits into manufacturable layouts while accounting for routing, thermal, and crosstalk constraints.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_00129
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Toward Large-Scale Photonics-Empowered AI Systems: From Physical Design Automation to System-Algorithm Co-Exploration
Yin, Ziang
Zhou, Hongjian
Gangi, Nicholas
Zhang, Meng
Zhang, Jeff
Huang, Zhaoran Rena
Gu, Jiaqi
Optics
Artificial Intelligence
Hardware Architecture
Emerging Technologies
In this work, we identify three considerations that are essential for realizing practical photonic AI systems at scale: (1) dynamic tensor operation support for modern models rather than only weight-static kernels, especially for attention/Transformer-style workloads; (2) systematic management of conversion, control, and data-movement overheads, where multiplexing and dataflow must amortize electronic costs instead of letting ADC/DAC and I/O dominate; and (3) robustness under hardware non-idealities that become more severe as integration density grows. To study these coupled tradeoffs quantitatively, and to ensure they remain meaningful under real implementation constraints, we build a cross-layer toolchain that supports photonic AI design from early exploration to physical realization. SimPhony provides implementation-aware modeling and rapid cross-layer evaluation, translating physical costs into system-level metrics so architectural decisions are grounded in realistic assumptions. ADEPT and ADEPT-Z enable end-to-end circuit and topology exploration, connecting system objectives to feasible photonic fabrics under practical device and circuit constraints. Finally, Apollo and LiDAR provide scalable photonic physical design automation, turning candidate circuits into manufacturable layouts while accounting for routing, thermal, and crosstalk constraints.
title Toward Large-Scale Photonics-Empowered AI Systems: From Physical Design Automation to System-Algorithm Co-Exploration
topic Optics
Artificial Intelligence
Hardware Architecture
Emerging Technologies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.00129