Parallel Wideband Chaos Generation System for Advancing High-Throughput Information Processing Based on an Array of Four Distributed Feedback Lasers

Optical chaos, especially in the form of parallel temporal/spatial chaos, presents a highly efficient approach for high-throughput information processing in diverse applications such as optical communication and reinforcement learning. However, despite these advancements, current approaches mainly focus on achieving enhanced single-channel performance or compromised multichannel realization (e.g., sacrificing the bandwidth, individual control, or system complexity). In this study, an integrated laser array with intensity-modulated optical injection is exclusively fabricated and employed to produce parallel optical chaos exhibiting independent and wideband characteristics. We demonstrate in a proof-of-concept experiment that allows for feasibly generating four parallel chaotic signals with a bandwidth exceeding 30 GHz, which is only limited by the detection devices. Benefiting from the high-frequency oscillations and faster dynamics of the on-chip laser array, the physical (physical-based pseudo) random bit generation rate can reach up to 1.6 Tb/s (15.04 Tb/s) by leveraging two postprocessing methods. We further expand the superiority of our proposed approach by demonstrating parallel benchmark decision-making, where we testify both experimentally and numerically that our fabricated laser array system outperforms the existing conventional approaches. This work explores novel avenues for high-throughput information processing by deploying chip-scale parallel chaotic systems.