Multi-channel spatial photonic Ising machine for 102400-spin 0-1 knapsack problem solving
Junze Yao, Junjie Yu · Optics Letters · 2026
Combinatorial optimization problems are challenging for classical computing architectures, motivating the development of specialized hardware like Ising machines. The Spatial Photonic Ising Machine (SPIM) and its enhanced versions have shown promise in solving such problems by mapping them to the Ising model and leveraging optical parallelism to compute Hamiltonian energies efficiently. However, the 0-1 knapsack problem, as a representative combinatorial optimization problem, has only been reported to be solved effectively in small-scale SPIM. In this work, we analyze the factors that limit the spin scalability and propose a novel hardware-aware Hamiltonian mapping scheme to overcome this limitation. Based on this enhanced SPIM, the scheme is validated through simulated annealing experiments on a 102400-spin 0-1 knapsack problem, achieving high solution accuracy. Our method not only enables efficient solutions to large-scale 0-1 knapsack problems but also offers generalizability to other combinatorial optimization problems with similar coupling configurations. This work demonstrates the potential of SPIMs as scalable and adaptable solvers for real-world optimization challenges.