This invention describes how to build an integrated optical tensor processor using volume holography and guided-wave systems to enable more efficient implementation of large-scale tensor operations, with the potential for up to 1,000 times improved power efficiency compared to conventional processing speeds. Background: Modern computing is increasingly relying on manipulating large, high dimensional data structures. Tensor operations are mathematical procedures used to manipulate multidimensional arrays, which are becoming more central to modern computing, but executing these operations at scale places strain on conventional electronic architectures due to power consumption, data movement, and latency limitations. There is a growing need for alternative computing paradigms that can handle massive parallelism and high bandwidth. Diffractive systems may enable efficient mode-conserving tensor operators and offer a way to accelerate core computational tasks while alleviating energy and throughput bottlenecks that increasingly constrain modern systems. Applications:
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