Computing with fiber-optics solitons

Optical solitons, discovered in optical fibers fifty years ago, have long been celebrated as robust manifestations of nonlinear wave physics. Initially conceived as candidates for long-haul communications, their role has since evolved toward a broader landscape of nonlinear dynamics and ultrafast photonics. In one of their most recent applications, they have emerged as computational blocks for optical machine learning. Nonlinear fiber dynamics naturally generate high-dimensional feature spaces, robust nonlinear transformations, and femtosecond-scale processing speeds, properties that electronics cannot match.