An Autonomous Semiconductor Laser Neural Network

Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) have become a ubiquitous technology; indeed, their flexibility allows them to excel in a wide range of tasks, ranging from medical diagnosis to language models. Contrary to classical algorithms, these networks process information in parallel. Photonics, in particular, shows great promise as a platform for implementing ANNs in terms of scalability, speed, energy efficiency and parallel information processing [1]. In [2], we physically implemented the first fully autonomous PNN (photonic neural network), using spatially multiplexed modes of an injection locked large area vertical cavity surface emitting laser (LA-VCSEL). All components of our PNN, including learning are fully realized in hardware using off-the-shelf, commercially available, low energy consumption components, while still achieving >98% accuracy in 6-bit header recognition tasks.