Towards VCSEL-based Ising computation

The polarization state (or relative phase) of each VCSEL in an injection-locked array can serve as an analogue Ising bit. We propose use of a spatial light modulator, along with associated collimation optics, to control the interaction strengths of the Ising Hamiltonian. The advantage of this approach is that it affectively allows all-to-all coupling between the Ising bits in a controllable way. The Ising computation would be particularly speedy since the feedback path is all-optical.