Fig. 6: Applications of Si optical memory.
From: All-silicon non-volatile optical memory based on photon avalanche-induced trapping
Trimming of optical interconnects: a Measured optical spectrum of a dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) microring modulator array before and after trimming (inset: microscope image of the DWDM modulator array)45. The bottom panel provides a zoomed-in view of the spectrum within the dashed-line box, highlighting the programmed channel 1 (ch1). b Coupling of crosstalk from adjacent modulation channel in the DWDM array before and after trimming. Solid and dashed lines indicate the spectrum changes before and after modulation, while green and purple lines represent the DWDM array states before and after trimming, respectively. The zoomed-in section in the top chart reveals reduced crosstalk (purple) after trimming. Optical neural network: c Example implementation of an optical matrix-vector multiplier employing the microring resonator (MRR) optical memory weight bank44. A DWDM laser source is directed into the MRR memory weight bank, where the optical signals are weighted based on the MRR memory settings and summed by balanced photodiodes. d A neural layer considering the precision and noise of its optical implementation46, with precision and noise data derived from measurements of the Si memory (inset). e Conceptual illustration of a 4-layer optical neural network for handwritten-digital classification. f Corresponding testing accuracy and loss using the MNIST dataset for the ideal MRR without noise (dash lines) and the MRR optical memory (solid lines). The inset shows the testing truth table. g Inference power consumption of a N × N optical matrix-vector multiplier with heater-based MRR weights (black dash line) and optical memory-based MRR weights (red solid line).
