Simulated Annealing of the Ising Model using an Excitable Laser Device

We present a physical, optical simulated annealing set-up used to solve for the ground state of the Ising Model. The annealer can map exactly to the Glauber Dynamics, a Monte Carlo method known to describe the evolution of spins in the Ising Model, with the sampling step performed by an excitable integrated photonic device, removing some costly digital calculations. The system has been shown to solve benchmark graphs. There is also room for improvement in the digital components and potential for parallel sampling using multiple lasers on the same compact photonic chip.