Nonlinear Schrödinger Kernel for hardware acceleration in machine learning inference

Alternative machine learning approaches that are computationally light with low latency and can work with only a small training dataset are needed for applications where the insatiable demand of deep learning methods for computing power and large training data cannot be met. We show that spectral mapping of data onto femtosecond optical pulses and a projection into an implicit, higher dimensional space using nonlinear optical dynamics increases the accuracy and reduces the latency in data classification by several orders of magnitude. The approach is validated by the classification of various datasets, including brain intracranial pressure, cancer cell imaging, spoken digit recognition, and the classic exclusive OR benchmark for nonlinear classification. The concept is demonstrated by seeding the nonlinear dynamics that are responsible for many fascinating natural phenomena, such as optical rogue waves, with the data before processing the output with a light classifier. A quantitative comparison with a well-known numerical technique is used to provide insight into this physical technique. Single-shot operation is demonstrated using time stretch data acquisition.