All-Optical Deep Learning with Quantum Nonlinearity

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Zhou, Qingyi, Kim, Jungmin, Tao, Yutian, Huang, Guoming, Zhou, Ming, Shao, Zewei, Yu, Zongfu
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2026
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author Zhou, Qingyi
Kim, Jungmin
Tao, Yutian
Huang, Guoming
Zhou, Ming
Shao, Zewei
Yu, Zongfu
author_facet Zhou, Qingyi
Kim, Jungmin
Tao, Yutian
Huang, Guoming
Zhou, Ming
Shao, Zewei
Yu, Zongfu
contents The rapid scaling of deep neural networks comes at the cost of unsustainable power consumption. While optical neural networks offer an alternative, their capabilities remain constrained by the lack of efficient optical nonlinearities. To address this, we propose an all-optical deep learning architecture by embedding quantum emitters in inverse-designed nanophotonic structures. Due to their saturability, quantum emitters exhibit exceptionally strong nonlinearity compared with conventional materials. Using physics-aware training, we demonstrate that the proposed architecture can solve complex tasks, including nonlinear classification and reinforcement learning, which have not been realized in all-optical neural networks. To enable fair comparison across different platforms, we introduce a framework that quantitatively links nonlinearity to a network's expressive power. Analysis shows that our quantum activation, operating below nW/μm^2 intensity, reduces the power budget by seven orders of magnitude. System-level estimates show that the optical power required for large language models scales sublinearly with model size, enabling watt-level operation. Our results indicate that quantum nanophotonics provides a route toward sustainable AI inference.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_01690
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle All-Optical Deep Learning with Quantum Nonlinearity
Zhou, Qingyi
Kim, Jungmin
Tao, Yutian
Huang, Guoming
Zhou, Ming
Shao, Zewei
Yu, Zongfu
Optics
Applied Physics
Computational Physics
The rapid scaling of deep neural networks comes at the cost of unsustainable power consumption. While optical neural networks offer an alternative, their capabilities remain constrained by the lack of efficient optical nonlinearities. To address this, we propose an all-optical deep learning architecture by embedding quantum emitters in inverse-designed nanophotonic structures. Due to their saturability, quantum emitters exhibit exceptionally strong nonlinearity compared with conventional materials. Using physics-aware training, we demonstrate that the proposed architecture can solve complex tasks, including nonlinear classification and reinforcement learning, which have not been realized in all-optical neural networks. To enable fair comparison across different platforms, we introduce a framework that quantitatively links nonlinearity to a network's expressive power. Analysis shows that our quantum activation, operating below nW/μm^2 intensity, reduces the power budget by seven orders of magnitude. System-level estimates show that the optical power required for large language models scales sublinearly with model size, enabling watt-level operation. Our results indicate that quantum nanophotonics provides a route toward sustainable AI inference.
title All-Optical Deep Learning with Quantum Nonlinearity
topic Optics
Applied Physics
Computational Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.01690