PHERMIAC – Photonic Ising machine for cosmic-ray data analysis

• Project Code: 2022597MBS
• Project start and end date: 28/09/2023 -27/09/2025
• Extension date: 28/02/2026
• Funding source: MUR Call for Proposal 104/2022 – NRRP – Next Generation EU, Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.1 – ‘Fund for the National Research Programme and Projects of Significant National Interest” (PRIN)
• CUP: F53D23001300006
• CREF funding amount: 49.400,00 €
• CREF total project cost: 131.640,00 €

CREF Unit Leader

Fabrizio Coccetti

Participating research units

1. Principal Investigator: Claudio Conti (Sapienza Università di Roma)
2. Co-PI: Fabrizio Coccetti (CREF)

Research team and staff recruited within the project

CREF Unit Team

• Fabrizio Coccetti (CREF Unit Leader)
• Romolo Savo
• Marcello Calvanese Strinati

Sapienza Unit Team & Collaborators

• Claudio Conti (PI)
• Davide Pierangeli
• Silvia Gentilini
• Islam Md Deen

Results achieved

The PHERMIAC project successfully designed and experimentally realized two advanced optical setups based on Spatial Light Modulators (single and dual-SLM configurations) for high-speed photonic computing. The system implements a photonic Ising machine capable of solving complex combinatorial optimization and Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimization (QUBO) problems via optical propagation and linear interference. The hardware was applied to high-energy physics data analysis, specifically for identifying temporal coincidences and reconstructing cosmic muon trajectories by re-analyzing over 145 billion reconstructed tracks from the Extreme Energy Events (EEE) database. The all-optical approach achieves scalability beyond 100,000 spins with nanosecond iteration times, outperforming conventional electronic computing clusters in speed and energy efficiency. The theoretical and experimental milestones led to an international joint patent application (CREF, Sapienza, CNR) and several scientific publications in top-tier international journals, paving the way for applications in quantum technology, cryptography, satellite navigation, and medical imaging.

Scientific publications

• Zhang et al., Optical Neural Networks based on Perovskite Solar Cells, Photonics Research 13, 382-386 (2025).
• Z. Wand et al., Efficient computation using spatial-photonic Ising machines with low-rank and circulant matrix constraints, Communications Physics 8:86 (2025).
• Chiavazzo et al., Ising Machine by Dimensional Collapse of Nonlinear Polarization Oscillators, Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 063801 (2025).
• Petrini et al., Single-Shot Full-Stokes Analysis of Partially-Polarized Light With a Photonic Deep Random Neural Network, Laser & Photonics Reviews 0:e01467 (2025).
• Dieli et al., Observation of Lump Solitons, Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 053804 (2026).

Organized events or conference participation

• • PHERMIAC Workshop (8 May 2024, CREF, Rome): Public workshop focused on describing overall project progress.
  • “Science Caffe” (11 June 2025, CREF, Rome): Informal session led by Unit Leaders Claudio Conti and Fabrizio Coccetti engaging directly with students.
  • Inter-institutional Joint Meeting (22 October 2025, CREF, Rome): Strategic meeting involving CNR, IIT, Sapienza, and CREF to discuss experimental validations.
  • EEE Collaboration Meeting (19 February 2026, Online): Online presentation of project results to the Extreme Energy Events collaboration, with participants from INFN branches (Pisa, Bologna, Bari, Lecce, Catania) and the Universities of Bologna and Pisa

Posters, dissemination materials, output

Patent Application: “Photonic system and method for detecting and tagging numerical proximity at high resolution” / “Sistema fotonico e metodo per la marcatura della prossimità numerica ad alta risoluzione”. Inventors: Claudio Conti, Davide Pierangeli, Fabrizio Coccetti, Romolo Savo, Marcello Calvanese Strinati, Silvia Gentilini, Islam Md Deen. Ref. CREF 0005813 (24/11/2025), CNR 2587 (2/12/2025), and Sapienza.