Descripción del proyecto
Un método fotónico para resolver problemas matemáticos complejos
Los vidrios de espín son materiales magnéticos cuya orientación magnética parece totalmente aleatoria, como si estuvieran congelados. Estos materiales sirven de modelo para problemas matemáticos a gran escala, por ejemplo, en inteligencia artificial, logística y secuenciación del ADN, que no son fáciles de resolver con la tecnología informática actual. El proyecto BEC-NETWORKS, financiado con fondos europeos, prevé desarrollar condensados de Bose-Einstein a partir de fotones disparando múltiples haces láser en microcavidades ópticas. Esta plataforma experimental permitirá a los investigadores llevar a cabo simulaciones ultrarrápidas de los sistemas de espín clásicos y resolver el problema del estado básico en los vidrios de espín.
Objetivo
Despite large advances in both algorithms and computer technology, even typical instances of computationally hard problems are too difficult to be solved on today’s computers. Unconventional computational devices that break with the usual paradigms of digital electronic computers can help to overcome these limitations. In this project, a network of coupled photon Bose-Einstein condensates will be developed and used as experimental platform to perform ultrafast simulations of classical spin systems. Specifically, the network will be capable of solving the ground-state problem in spin glasses (disordered magnets). The latter constitutes a well-known combinatorial problem that can be mapped mathematically to many other computationally hard problems in machine learning, logistics, computer chip design and DNA sequencing. In a proof-of-principle experiment, I aim to demonstrate that the proposed spin glass simulator performs this computationally hard optimisation problem significantly faster than any other computer today. I have pioneered the Bose-Einstein condensation of photons in optical microcavities, which has enabled us to investigate this genuine quantum-mechanical effect with all-optical methods. In a recent work of my group, we experimentally demonstrate controllable phase relations between photon Bose-Einstein condensates in an optical microcavity. The investigated device realises an optical analogue of a Josephson junction. Similar to a transistor for electronics, a controllable photonic Josephson junction represents the key component for ultrafast optical spin glass simulation and, thus, is the crucial basis for the proposed project. The BEC-NETWORKS project will be the main research project of my research group at the University of Twente.
Ámbito científico
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsDNA
- engineering and technologymaterials engineering
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligencemachine learning
- natural sciencesphysical sciencescondensed matter physicsbose-einstein condensates
- natural sciencesphysical sciencestheoretical physicsparticle physicsphotons
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantInstitución de acogida
7522 NB Enschede
Países Bajos