Unconventional computing with liquid light

The recent advances in developing physical platforms for solving combinatorial optimisation problems reveal the future of high-performance computing for quantum and classical devices. Unconventional computing architectures were proposed for numerous optical systems, including parametric oscillators, memristors, lasers and nanolasers, optoelectronic systems, photonic simulators, trapped ions, polariton and photon condensates. A promising approach to achieve computational supremacy over the classical von Neumann architecture explores classical and quantum hardware as Ising and XY machines. Gain-dissipative platforms such as the networks of optical parametric oscillators, coupled lasers and non-equilibrium Bose-Einstein condensates such as exciton-polariton or photon condensates use an approach to finding the global minimum of spin Hamiltonians which is different from quantum annealers or quantum computers. In my talk, I will discuss the principles of the operation of the devices based on such systems, the challenges they present, and the question of comparing different platforms' performance.