High-speed and low-latency optical feature extraction engine based on diffraction operators

Feature extraction in the optical domain offers a promising low-latency, high-throughput solution. Optical diffraction-based feature extraction operating under a coherent light source can further achieve parallel outputs with low energy consumption. However, it presents significant challenges for maintaining the coherent input, scaling the operation rates beyond 10 GHz, and ensuring the effective extraction of functional configuration simultaneously. We propose an optical feature extraction engine (OFE2), which is composed of a diffraction operator and a data preparation module, powering high-speed feature extraction for both image and temporal series tasks. This OFE2 can achieve a core latency of less than 250.5 ps; in addition, it can reach a throughput of 250 GOPS and an efficiency of 2.06 TOPS/W. Supported by the OFE2, a novel feature extraction paradigm is emerging, enabling high-speed, low-latency service access for applications in scene recognition, medical assistance, and digital finance.