DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Diffractive optical computing in free space

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
 [1];  [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [3]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. University of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
  2. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States); Meta Materials Inc., Athens (Greece)
  3. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)

Structured optical materials create new computing paradigms using photons, with transformative impact on various fields, including machine learning, computer vision, imaging, telecommunications, and sensing. This Perspective sheds light on the potential of free-space optical systems based on engineered surfaces for advancing optical computing. Manipulating light in unprecedented ways, emerging structured surfaces enable all-optical implementation of various mathematical functions and machine learning tasks. Diffractive networks, in particular, bring deep-learning principles into the design and operation of free-space optical systems to create new functionalities. Metasurfaces consisting of deeply subwavelength units are achieving exotic optical responses that provide independent control over different properties of light and can bring major advances in computational throughput and data-transfer bandwidth of free-space optical processors. Unlike integrated photonics-based optoelectronic systems that demand preprocessed inputs, free-space optical processors have direct access to all the optical degrees of freedom that carry information about an input scene/object without needing digital recovery or preprocessing of information. To realize the full potential of free-space optical computing architectures, diffractive surfaces and metasurfaces need to advance symbiotically and co-evolve in their designs, 3D fabrication/integration, cascadability, and computing accuracy to serve the needs of next-generation machine vision, computational imaging, mathematical computing, and telecommunication technologies.

Research Organization:
Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division (MSE); US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR); Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI); USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0023088; # FA9550-21-1-0312; # FA9550-23-1-0307
OSTI ID:
2309790
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 2341437; OSTI ID: 2341445
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Vol. 15, Issue 1; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (210)

Microfabrication by two-photon lithography, and characterization, of SiO2/TiO2 based hybrid and ceramic microstructures journal July 2020
A broadband achromatic metalens in the visible journal January 2018
Highly efficient broadband double-sided Fresnel lens for THz range journal June 2012
High-Efficiency Metasurfaces: Principles, Realizations, and Applications journal July 2018
Graphene Plasmonics: A Platform for 2D Optics journal December 2018
Toward Near-Perfect Diffractive Optical Elements via Nanoscale 3D Printing journal July 2020
Nonlocal Metasurfaces for Optical Signal Processing journal October 2018
All‐Dielectric Metasurface Empowered Optical‐Electronic Hybrid Neural Networks journal July 2022
Scale-, Shift-, and Rotation-Invariant Diffractive Optical Networks journal December 2020
Aluminum for Plasmonics journal December 2013
High-Resolution Underwater Robotic Vision-Based Mapping and Three-Dimensional Reconstruction for Archaeology journal July 2016
Addressable metasurfaces for dynamic holography and optical information encryption journal June 2018
Infrared dielectric response of nanoscribe IP-dip and IP-L monomers after polymerization from 250 cm^−1 to 6000 cm^−1 journal January 2017
Photonic (computational) memories: tunable nanophotonics for data storage and computing journal May 2022
A Broadband, Background-Free Quarter-Wave Plate Based on Plasmonic Metasurfaces journal February 2012
A family of suboptimum detectors for coherent multiuser communications journal May 1990
All-optical diffractive neural networked terahertz hologram journal May 2020
At the intersection of optics and deep learning: statistical inference, computing, and inverse design journal May 2022
Stretchable All-Dielectric Metasurfaces with Polarization-Insensitive and Full-Spectrum Response journal December 2019
To image, or not to image: class-specific diffractive cameras with all-optical erasure of undesired objects journal August 2022
Switchable Fresnel lens based on micropatterned alignment journal January 2013
All-dielectric metamaterials journal January 2016
Broadband Metasurfaces with Simultaneous Control of Phase and Amplitude journal May 2014
Metasurface holograms reaching 80% efficiency journal February 2015
Large-scale neuromorphic optoelectronic computing with a reconfigurable diffractive processing unit journal April 2021
Performing optical logic operations by a diffractive neural network journal April 2020
Practical Chromatic Aberration Correction in Virtual Reality Displays Enabled by Cost‐Effective Ultra‐Broadband Liquid Crystal Polymer Lenses journal October 2019
Optical meta-waveguides for integrated photonics and beyond journal November 2021
Ultrathin Pancharatnam-Berry Metasurface with Maximal Cross-Polarization Efficiency journal December 2014
Meta-Lens Doublet in the Visible Region journal July 2017
Averaged transition conditions for electromagnetic fields at a metafilm journal October 2003
Multispectral Chiral Imaging with a Metalens journal June 2016
Broadband terahertz rotator with an all-dielectric metasurface journal January 2018
Femtojoule femtosecond all-optical switching in lithium niobate nanophotonics journal July 2022
Analogue computing with metamaterials journal October 2020
Ultrathin flexible terahertz polarization converter based on metasurfaces journal June 2016
Polar coordinate laser pattern generator for fabrication of diffractive optical elements with arbitrary structure journal March 1999
Polarization-insensitive GaN metalenses at visible wavelengths journal July 2021
Self-configuring universal linear optical component [Invited] journal January 2013
Optimal linear transformation for MRI feature extraction journal January 1996
Broadband achromatic metalens in terahertz regime journal October 2019
Universal linear intensity transformations using spatially incoherent diffractive processors journal August 2023
A hybrid achromatic metalens journal August 2020
Twisted optical metamaterials for planarized ultrathin broadband circular polarizers journal January 2012
Broadband anomalous reflective metasurface for complementary conversion of arbitrary incident polarization angles journal November 2021
Efficient Silicon Metasurfaces for Visible Light journal February 2017
Optically reconfigurable metasurfaces and photonic devices based on phase change materials journal December 2015
Programmable Soft Lithography: Solvent-Assisted Nanoscale Embossing journal February 2011
Residual stress and fracture in thick tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and silane-based PECVD oxide films journal July 2001
3D printed gradient index glass optics journal November 2020
Metasurface holograms for visible light journal November 2013
Terahertz planar lenses based on plasmonic metasurfaces journal February 2019
Laser‐Printed Terahertz Plasmonic Phase‐Change Metasurfaces journal March 2023
Cascadable all-optical NAND gates using diffractive networks journal May 2022
All-optical machine learning using diffractive deep neural networks journal July 2018
Dispersion-engineered metasurfaces reaching broadband 90% relative diffraction efficiency journal May 2023
A Dispersion Law for Virtually Imaged Phased-Array Spectral Dispersers Based on Paraxial Wave Theory journal April 2004
Holographic opto-fluidic microscopy journal December 2010
Universal Metasurfaces for Complete Linear Control of Coherent Light Transmission journal October 2022
Pushing deep ultraviolet lithography to its limits journal November 2007
Space-variant Pancharatnam–Berry phase optical elements with computer-generated subwavelength gratings journal January 2002
Highly efficient broadband blazed grating in resonance domain journal May 2013
Flat optics for image differentiation journal February 2020
All-optical information-processing capacity of diffractive surfaces journal January 2021
Dielectric metasurfaces for complete control of phase and polarization with subwavelength spatial resolution and high transmission journal August 2015
Low-Loss Plasmonic Metamaterials journal January 2011
Fabrication of gradient-refractive-index lenses for terahertz applications by three-dimensional printing journal April 2016
Dynamic non-reciprocal meta-surfaces with arbitrary phase reconfigurability based on photonic transition in meta-atoms journal January 2016
Spatiotemporal light control with active metasurfaces journal May 2019
Alternative Plasmonic Materials: Beyond Gold and Silver journal May 2013
Universal Polarization Transformations: Spatial Programming of Polarization Scattering Matrices Using A Deep Learning‐Designed Diffractive Polarization Transformer journal August 2023
Approximation by superpositions of a sigmoidal function journal December 1989
Metasurface-enabled on-chip multiplexed diffractive neural networks in the visible journal May 2022
Femtosecond pulse shaping using spatial light modulators journal May 2000
Spectrally encoded single-pixel machine vision using diffractive networks journal March 2021
Coding Programmable Metasurfaces Based on Deep Learning Techniques journal March 2020
Adaptive metalenses with simultaneous electrical control of focal length, astigmatism, and shift journal February 2018
Porous Silicon Gradient Refractive Index Micro-Optics journal November 2016
Flat optics with dispersion-engineered metasurfaces journal June 2020
Metasurface optics for full-color computational imaging journal February 2018
Class-specific differential detection in diffractive optical neural networks improves inference accuracy journal July 2019
Mathematics for Machine Learning book January 2020
Planar Photonics with Metasurfaces journal March 2013
Versatile Polarization Generation with an Aluminum Plasmonic Metasurface journal December 2016
Direct laser writing of volumetric gradient index lenses and waveguides journal December 2020
Photonic crystal fiber metalens journal February 2019
Formation of radially and azimuthally polarized light using space-variant subwavelength metal stripe gratings journal September 2001
The promise of analog computation journal May 2014
Direct calculation of permeability and permittivity for a left-handed metamaterial journal October 2000
Ultrafast multi-focus 3-D nano-fabrication based on two-photon polymerization journal May 2019
Wafer‐Scale Functional Metasurfaces for Mid‐Infrared Photonics and Biosensing journal September 2021
All‐Optical Phase Recovery: Diffractive Computing for Quantitative Phase Imaging journal May 2022
Arbitrary spin-to–orbital angular momentum conversion of light journal November 2017
MaxwellNet: Physics-driven deep neural network training based on Maxwell’s equations journal January 2022
Dispersionless Phase Discontinuities for Controlling Light Propagation journal October 2012
Hybrid optical-electronic convolutional neural networks with optimized diffractive optics for image classification journal August 2018
Measuring the Transmission Matrix in Optics: An Approach to the Study and Control of Light Propagation in Disordered Media journal March 2010
Review of Metasurface Antennas for Computational Microwave Imaging journal March 2020
Tunable Metasurface and Flat Optical Zoom Lens on a Stretchable Substrate journal March 2016
Optical memristive switches journal March 2017
Broadband high-efficiency dielectric metasurfaces for the visible spectrum journal September 2016
Integrated photonic metasystem for image classifications at telecommunication wavelength journal April 2022
Accelerometers book January 2008
Adaptive optics via pupil segmentation for high-resolution imaging in biological tissues journal December 2009
Tailoring Light with Layered and Moiré Metasurfaces journal May 2021
Blazed binary subwavelength gratings with efficiencies larger than those of conventional échelette gratings journal January 1998
A theoretical framework for general design of two-materials composed diffractive fresnel lens journal July 2021
Polarization Encoded Color Image Embedded in a Dielectric Metasurface journal March 2018
Scalable optical learning operator journal August 2021
Active terahertz beam deflection based on a phase gradient metasurface with liquid crystal-enhanced cavity mode conversion journal January 2023
Broadband achromatic optical metasurface devices journal August 2017
Miniature optical planar camera based on a wide-angle metasurface doublet corrected for monochromatic aberrations journal November 2016
Inverse-designed metastructures that solve equations journal March 2019
Photonic spiking neural networks with event-driven femtojoule optoelectronic neurons based on Izhikevich-inspired model journal May 2022
Time‐Lapse Image Classification Using a Diffractive Neural Network journal February 2023
Orbital angular momentum deep multiplexing holography via an optical diffractive neural network journal February 2022
3D nanofabrication by volumetric deposition and controlled shrinkage of patterned scaffolds journal December 2018
Large area metalenses: design, characterization, and mass manufacturing journal January 2018
Design of radial gradient-index lenses for dual-band visible to short-wave infrared imaging systems journal July 2013
Toward Intelligent Metasurfaces: The Progress from Globally Tunable Metasurfaces to Software‐Defined Metasurfaces with an Embedded Network of Controllers journal July 2020
Ensemble learning: A survey journal February 2018
Diffractive interconnects: all-optical permutation operation using diffractive networks journal September 2022
Light Propagation with Phase Discontinuities: Generalized Laws of Reflection and Refraction journal September 2011
Three-dimensional waveguide interconnects for scalable integration of photonic neural networks journal January 2020
Manipulating light polarization with ultrathin plasmonic metasurfaces journal November 2011
A broadband achromatic metalens for focusing and imaging in the visible journal January 2018
High-efficiency terahertz metasurface with independently controlled and switchable function in transmission and reflection modes journal October 2020
Phase-only transmissive spatial light modulator based on tunable dielectric metasurface journal June 2019
Inference in artificial intelligence with deep optics and photonics journal December 2020
Ultra-high aspect ratio high-resolution nanofabrication for hard X-ray diffractive optics journal June 2014
Design and evaluation of new color-corrected rigid endomicroscopic high NA GRIN-objectives with a sub-micron resolution and large field of view journal May 2016
Classification and reconstruction of spatially overlapping phase images using diffractive optical networks journal May 2022
Design and fabrication of blazed binary diffractive elements with sampling periods smaller than the structural cutoff journal January 1999
All-optical synthesis of an arbitrary linear transformation using diffractive surfaces journal September 2021
Visible-Frequency Metasurfaces for Broadband Anomalous Reflection and High-Efficiency Spectrum Splitting journal February 2015
Structural color three-dimensional printing by shrinking photonic crystals journal September 2019
Composite functional metasurfaces for multispectral achromatic optics journal April 2017
Unidirectional imaging using deep learning–designed materials journal April 2023
Dielectric gradient metasurface optical elements journal July 2014
Direct laser writing journal January 2010
Massively parallel universal linear transformations using a wavelength-multiplexed diffractive optical network journal January 2023
Metasurface Polarization Optics: Independent Phase Control of Arbitrary Orthogonal States of Polarization journal March 2017
Analysis of Diffractive Optical Neural Networks and Their Integration With Electronic Neural Networks journal January 2020
Programmable and reversible plasmon mode engineering journal November 2016
Design of task-specific optical systems using broadband diffractive neural networks journal December 2019
Reconfigurable Terahertz Metasurface Pure Phase Holograms journal March 2019
A Broadband Electronically Mode-Reconfigurable Orbital Angular Momentum Metasurface Antenna journal July 2019
Experimental Verification of Plasmonic Cloaking at Microwave Frequencies with Metamaterials journal October 2009
Terahertz metamaterials with semiconductor split-ring resonators for magnetostatic tunability journal January 2008
Strain Multiplexed Metasurface Holograms on a Stretchable Substrate journal May 2017
6G Wireless Networks: Vision, Requirements, Architecture, and Key Technologies journal September 2019
Plasmonic Materials journal November 2007
A programmable diffractive deep neural network based on a digital-coding metasurface array journal February 2022
Roadmap on emerging hardware and technology for machine learning journal October 2020
Inverse-Designed Metastructures Together with Reconfigurable Couplers to Compute Forward Scattering journal September 2022
High-Efficiency Broadband Anomalous Reflection by Gradient Meta-Surfaces journal February 2012
Resistive switching materials for information processing journal January 2020
Learning diffractive optical communication around arbitrary opaque occlusions journal October 2023
Diffractive Optical Elements For Use In Infrared Systems journal June 1989
Searching for better plasmonic materials journal March 2010
Broadband and chiral binary dielectric meta-holograms journal May 2016
Computer-Free, All-Optical Reconstruction of Holograms Using Diffractive Networks journal October 2021
The universal approximation theorem for complex-valued neural networks journal May 2023
Multilayer feedforward networks with a nonpolynomial activation function can approximate any function journal January 1993
Harnessing optoelectronic noises in a photonic generative network journal January 2022
Orbital angular momentum deep multiplexing holography via an optical diffractive neural network collection January 2022
A Programmable Terahertz Metasurface With Circuit-Coupled Meta-Elements in Silicon Chips: Creating Low-Cost, Large-Scale, Reconfigurable Terahertz Metasurfaces journal August 2022
Multilayer Noninteracting Dielectric Metasurfaces for Multiwavelength Metaoptics journal November 2018
Space-efficient optical computing with an integrated chip diffractive neural network journal February 2022
Inverse-designed low-index-contrast structures on a silicon photonics platform for vector–matrix multiplication journal February 2024
Data‐Class‐Specific All‐Optical Transformations and Encryption journal June 2023
Experimental Demonstration of >230° Phase Modulation in Gate-Tunable Graphene–Gold Reconfigurable Mid-Infrared Metasurfaces journal April 2017
High-Efficiency, Wideband GRIN Lenses With Intrinsically Matched Unit Cells journal August 2020
Polarization multiplexed diffractive computing: all-optical implementation of a group of linear transformations through a polarization-encoded diffractive network journal May 2022
MEMS-tunable dielectric metasurface lens journal February 2018
Terahertz pulse shaping using diffractive surfaces journal January 2021
Intelligent optoelectronic processor for orbital angular momentum spectrum measurement journal February 2023
Additive Manufacturing of a 3D Terahertz Gradient‐Refractive Index Lens journal April 2016
Computational imaging without a computer: seeing through random diffusers at the speed of light journal January 2022
Nanophotonic media for artificial neural inference journal January 2019
Meta-optics for spatial optical analog computing journal September 2020
Ultra-broadband holography in visible and infrared regions with full-polarization nondispersive response journal June 2023
Super-resolution image display using diffractive decoders journal December 2022
Scalable Nanoimprint Lithography Process for Manufacturing Visible Metasurfaces Composed of High Aspect Ratio TiO 2 Meta-Atoms journal August 2021
Diffractive optics for quasi-direct space-to-time pulse shaping journal October 2008
Adaptive dynamic range shift (ADRIFT) quantitative phase imaging journal January 2021
Wavefront shaping and modulation with resonant electro-optic phase gradient metasurfaces journal February 2021
Replication techniques for diffractive optical elements journal December 1997
Parallel convolutional processing using an integrated photonic tensor core journal January 2021
Polarization-Insensitive Metalenses at Visible Wavelengths journal October 2016
Misalignment resilient diffractive optical networks journal July 2020
Mathematical operations and equation solving with reconfigurable metadevices journal September 2022
Terahertz GRIN lenses fabricated by 3D-printing conference September 2016
Ultrafast optical pulse shaping using dielectric metasurfaces journal May 2019
Diffractive optical elements: iterative calculation of quantized, blazed phase structures journal January 1990
Metasurface orbital angular momentum holography journal July 2019
Real-time programmable metasurface for terahertz multifunctional wave front engineering journal August 2023
Analog optical computing journal October 2015
Fourier-space Diffractive Deep Neural Network journal July 2019
Fast Image Dehazing Method Based on Linear Transformation journal June 2017
Frequency tunable near-infrared metamaterials based on VO2 phase transition journal January 2009
Babinet Principle Applied to the Design of Metasurfaces and Metamaterials journal November 2004
Metalenses at visible wavelengths: Diffraction-limited focusing and subwavelength resolution imaging journal June 2016
A brief review of atomic layer deposition: from fundamentals to applications journal June 2014
Leveraging of MEMS Technologies for Optical Metamaterials Applications journal July 2019
Transmitter precoding in synchronous multiuser communications journal January 1998
Programmable black phosphorus image sensor for broadband optoelectronic edge computing journal March 2022
Solving integral equations in free space with inverse-designed ultrathin optical metagratings journal January 2023
Advances in Inverse Lithography journal September 2022
Broadband nonlinear modulation of incoherent light using a transparent optoelectronic neuron array journal March 2024