Design of plasmonic ALU by Hybrid Artificial Intelligence – DALHAI

The DALHAI project aims at developing compact all-optical Arithmetic and Logic Units (ALU) exploiting the spatial and spectral distributions of 2D confined plasmons modes in planar cavities tailored in ultrathin Au or Ag crystals. Yet, the optimization of the logic gate output contrast, the definition of the logic function reconfiguration schemes and the generalization of this concept towards complex ALU is a non-intuitive challenge.
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DALHAI addresses the ALU design challenge with a four-stage strategy that relies, first, on the mode symmetry considerations that led to the successful numerical and experimental results obtained on the crystalline gold double hexagon (DH) devices. Second, evolutionary optimization will be implemented to efficiently survey the parameters space (shape, polarization, ...). Yet the discovery of complex ALU configurations will be limited by the intuitive starting points.
Third, to overcome this limitation, DALHAI will develop powerful Hybrid Artificial Intelligence (HAI) tools and interface them with optical simulations and experimental data. Fourth, once trained, the HAI will propose device geometries and excitation protocols to solve the inverse design of complex reconfigurable ALUs.
Nanofabrication, simulations, optical benchmarking, operation and reconfiguration of HAI-proposed ALUs will be performed. The experimental fabrication, optical testing and the numerical simulations of plasmonic ALUs will be performed by CEMES (CNRS, Toulouse) and ICB (CNRS, Dijon). CIAD (Univ. Bourgogne, Dijon) will develop the HAI in strong interaction with all partners.
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DALHAI is structured in four work packages. WP1 is dedicated to management, dissemination and technological transfer actions. WP2 is the nano-optical backbone of the project in which the design, nanofabrication, optical testing, electro-plasmonic addressing and GDM simulations of simple 1st (DH-based) and 2nd (modified geometry) generation plasmonic ALU devices are implemented. WP3 is dedicated to the development of the connectionist and symbolic AI tools and their fusion into the Hybrid AI with continuous interactions with the numerical and experimental implementation of optimized plasmonic modal ALU (evolutionary optimization, 3rd generation). In WP4 the HAI will be deployed to propose structure and operation schemes of complex ALUs (4th generation) with associated experimental and numerical optical benchmarking, the HAI output will be qualified and specifications on the direct interfacing of the HAI with hardware and GDM routines will be established.
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DALHAI targets two sets of science-to-technology breakthroughs with potential impact covered by specific dissemination and technology transfer actions. (1) The experimental nano-optical concepts of modal plasmonic gates and its generalization to ALU is an unprecedented holistic approach with which DALHAI ambitions to set a radically new and technologically relevant paradigm. DALHAI will disseminate its results at the crossroads of nano-optics and IT in high impact journals, in impactful conferences, in national and EU networks. (2) DALHAI will adapt HAI to assist the design of the complex ALU to step up in complexity, numbers of input/output and reconfigurability beyond intuitive design. DALHAI ambitions to enhance the innovation capacity by merging interdisciplinary fields and to establish a national and European leadership in HAI-reinforced nano-photonics. In this regards, DALHAI aims at a software maturity at TRL7. The machine learning part will be available for tests but the pioneering interdisciplinary approach of HAI in nanophotonics will be the subject of an invention declaration. We will establish an exploitation plan beyond the project duration with the technology transfer accelerator office SATT. Throughout the project a Wiki plus a public website will be maintained to share data but also as a promotional and educational tools towards the general public.