Mainz 2026 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 41: Poster – Quantum Technologies II & Laser Technology
Q 41.27: Poster
Wednesday, March 4, 2026, 17:00–19:00, Philo 2. OG
Automated Calibration of a MZI-Mesh based Optical Computer — •Okan Akyüz1, Konrad Tschernig1, Mingwei Yang1,2, Felix Kübler1, Lennart Mannteuffel1, Enrico Stoll1, and Janik Wolters1,2 — 1Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany — 2Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Institut für Weltraumforschung, Berlin, Germany
Optical computing uses light instead of electronic signals for computation, with hardware such as Mach-Zehnder-interferometer (MZI)-based systems that implement programmable linear optical networks. A major challenge is individually calibrating each unique phase shifter for applications ranging from Vector-Matrix Multiplication (VMM)[1] to quantum computation[2]. In this work, we demonstrate the automated calibration of a 12x12-mode MZI-mesh based optical processor. We use external optical switches to feed a laser into input ports and measure the output intensity from the corresponding output ports. A tailored algorithm allows isolating the effect of each of the 132 phase shifters and determining the heating power to phase calibration. After isolating each phase shifter, we can perform a voltage sweep to determine the voltage-to-phase calibration curve. We give an outlook on how this calibration can be used to realize efficient optical VMM in machine learning problems.
[1] Shen, Y., et al. Deep learning with coherent nanophotonic circuits. Nature Photon 11, 441-446 (2017).
[2] Sergei Slussarenko, et al.; Photonic quantum information processing: A concise review. Appl. Phys. Rev. 1 December 2019.
Keywords: optical computing; calibration