A scalable and fully tuneable VCSEL-based neural network

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate an autonomous, fully tuneable and scalable neural network of 350+ parallel nodes based on a large area, multimode semiconductor laser. We implement online learning strategies based on reinforcement learning. Our system achieves high performance and a high classification bandwidth of 15KHz for the MNIST dataset. Our approach is highly scalable both in terms of classification bandwidth and neural network size.