Optical Potts machine through networks of three‐photon down‐conversion oscillators
Mostafa Honari-Latifpour, Mohammad‐Ali Miri · Nanophotonics · 2018
Abstract In recent years, there has been a growing interest in optical simulation of lattice spin models for applications in unconventional computing. Here, we propose optical implementation of a three‐state Potts spin model by using networks of coupled parametric oscillators with phase tristability. We first show that the cubic nonlinear process of spontaneous three‐photon down‐conversion is accompanied by a tristability in the phase of the subharmonic signal between three states with 2 π /3 phase contrast. The phase of such a parametric oscillator behaves like a three‐state spin system. Next, we show that a network of dissipatively coupled three‐photon down‐conversion oscillators emulates the three‐state planar Potts model. We discuss potential applications of the proposed system for all‐optical optimization of combinatorial problems such as graph 3‐COL and MAX 3‐CUT.