A versatile coherent Ising computing platform

TL;DR: Researchers developed a coherent Ising machine (CIM) via femtosecond laser pumping, achieving a 55% success rate in solving NP-complete problems, with significant performance enhancements and practical applicability in real-world scenarios, including molecular docking and credit scoring.

Abstract: Coherent Ising machines (CIMs) have emerged as a hybrid form of quantum computing devices designed to solve NP-complete problems, offering an exciting opportunity for discovering optimal solutions. Despite challenges such as susceptibility to noise-induced local minima, we achieved notable advantages in improving the computational accuracy and stability of CIMs. We conducted a successful experimental demonstration of CIM via femtosecond laser pumping that integrates optimization strategies across optical and structural dimensions, resulting in significant performance enhancements. The results are particularly promising. An average success rate of 55% was achieved to identify optimal solutions within a Möbius Ladder graph comprising 100 vertices. Compared with other alternatives, the femtosecond pulse results in significantly higher peak power, leading to more pronounced quantum effects and lower pump power in optical fiber-based CIMs. In addition, we have maintained an impressive success rate for a continuous period of 8 hours, emphasizing the practical applicability of CIMs in real-world scenarios. Furthermore, our research extends to the application of these principles in practical applications such as molecular docking and credit scoring. The results presented substantiate the theoretical promise of CIMs, paving the way for their integration into large-scale practical applications. We conducted an experimental demonstration of coherent Ising machine via femto-second laser pumping that integrates optimization strategies across optical and structural dimensions, resulting in significant performance enhancements.