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Annual Meeting Optical Society of America

Coherent optical eigenstate memory

Dana Z. Anderson

Published Jan 1, 1985• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

A high capacity associative memory would find applications in computing and perhaps lend some insight into the understanding of collective neural networks and human memory. In this work an entirely optical associative memory device is proposed. The device operates on the principle that an optical resonator employing a holographic grating can have user prescribed eigenmodes. Information which is to be recalled is contained in the hologram. Each information entity (e.g., an image of a cat) defines an eigenmode of the resonator. The stored information is accessed by injecting partial information (e.g., an image of the cat’s ear) into the resonator. The appropriate eigenmode is selected through a competitive process in a gain medium placed inside the resonator. With a net gain greater than one, the gain amplifies the field belonging to the eigenmode which most resembles the injected field; the other eigenmodes are suppressed via the competition for the gain. The principles underlying the proposed device are outlined and the issues which must be addressed are delineated.

DOI
10.1364/oam.1985.wt5

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A high capacity associative memory would find applications in computing and perhaps lend some insight into the understanding of collective neural networks and human memory. In this work an entirely optical associative memory device is proposed. The device operates on the principle that an optical resonator employing a holographic grating can have user prescribed eigenmodes. Information which is to be recalled is contained in the hologram. Each information entity (e.g., an image of a cat) defines an eigenmode of the resonator. The stored information is accessed by injecting partial information (e.g., an image of the cat’s ear) into the resonator. The appropriate eigenmode is selected through a competitive process in a gain medium placed inside the resonator. With a net gain greater than one, the gain amplifies the field belonging to the eigenmode which most resembles the injected field; the other eigenmodes are suppressed via the competition for the gain. The principles underlying the proposed device are outlined and the issues which must be addressed are delineated.
A coherent optical memory is described. The device operates on the principle that an optical resonator employing a holographic grating can have user-prescribed eigenmodes. Each information entity (e.g., an image of a cat) defines an eigenmode of the resonator. The stored information is accessed by injecting partial information (e.g., an image of the cat’s ear) into the resonator. A gain medium internal to the resonator amplifies the field belonging to the eigenmode that most resembles the injected field; the other eigenmodes are suppressed through a competition for the gain. A simple optical memory exhibiting associative recall is demonstrated.
One can construct a memory having associative characteristics using optical resonators with an internal gain medium. The device operates on the principle that an optical resonator employing a holographic grating can have user prescribed eigenmodes. Information that is to be recalled is contained in the hologram. Each information entity (e.g. an image of a cat) defines an eigenmode of the resonator. The stored information is accessed by injecting partial information (e.g. an image of the cat's ear) into the resonator. The appropriate eigenmode is selected through a competitive process in a gain medium placed inside the resonator. With a net gain greater than one, the gain amplifies the field belonging to the eigenmode that most resembles the injected field; the other eigenmodes are suppressed via the competition for the gain. One can expect this device to display several intriguing features such as recall transitions and creativity. I will discuss some of the general properties of this class of devices and present the results from a series of experiments with a simple holographic resonator employing photorefractive gain.
A programmable optical resonator is one in which a hologram assumes the role of one of the mirrors of an ordinary optical resonator. A holographic recording medium allows the optical electric field eigenmodes of the resonator to be user-defined. Interest in this kind of resonator stems from their potential as associative optical memories. When the holographic medium is a photorefractive or other real-time recording medium, the resonator can learn, recall, and forget programmed information. Recall is achieved by placing a gain medium, such as an externally pumped photorefractive crystal, inside the resonator. The gain medium excites eigenmodes of the resonator. Using LiNbO3 as the recording medium and pumped BaTiO3 as the gain medium we have been able to store and recall complicated images as eigenmodes of a resonator.
Associative optical memories have attracted increasing interest as they can offer new, all-optical solutions to various problems, for example in pattern recognition. In such memories, stored informations are retrieved from partial or noisy inputs. An optical laser resonator can act as such an associative processor. Using holograms, different images are associated to each of the modes of the optical cavity. Thus a partial input image can force the resonator to oscillate on the closest stored information. Two wave mixing arrangements in photorefractive crystals, which provide very large amplification factors, can be used to overcome the large losses inherent to these resonators.
We introduce a near-term experimental platform for realizing an associative memory.It can simultaneously store many memories by using spinful bosons coupled to a degenerate multimode optical cavity.The associative memory is realized by a confocal cavity QED neural network, with the modes serving as the synapses, connecting a network of superradiant atomic spin ensembles,which serve as the neurons.Memories are encoded in the connectivity matrix between the spins and can be accessed through the input and output of patterns of light.Each aspect of the scheme is based on recently demonstrated technology using a confocal cavity and Bose-condensed atoms.Our scheme has two conceptually novel elements.First, it introduces a new form of random spin system that interpolates between a ferromagnetic and a spin glass regime as a physical parameter is tuned-the positions of ensembles within the cavity.Second, and more importantly, the spins relax via deterministic steepest-descent dynamics rather than Glauber dynamics.We show that this nonequilibrium quantum-optical scheme has significant advantages for associative memory over Glauber dynamics: These dynamics can enhance the network's ability to store and recall memories beyond that of the standard Hopfield model.Surprisingly, the cavity QED dynamics can retrieve memories even when the system is in the spin glass phase.Thus, the experimental platform provides a novel physical instantiation of associative memories and spin glasses as well as provides an unusual form of relaxational dynamics that is conducive to memory recall even in regimes where it was thought to be impossible.
Abstract A device being a pinnacle of development of an optical quantum memory should combine the capabilities of storage, inter-communication, and processing of stored information. In particular, the ability to capture a train of optical pulses, interfere them in an arbitrary way and finally, perform on-demand release could realize arbitrary optical computation. Here we demonstrate the operation of a coherent optical memory being able to store optical pulses in the form of collective spin-wave excitations in a two-dimensional wavevector space. During storage, we perform complex beamsplitter operations and demonstrate a variety of protocols implemented at the processing stage, including real-time controlled interference of a pair of spin-wave modes with 95% visibility. The highly multimode structure of the presented memory lends itself to enhancing classical optical telecommunication, as well as parallel processing of optical qubits at the single-photon level.