Identifying topology of leaky photonic lattices with machine learning
This work addresses the challenge of identifying topological phases in photonic systems for researchers in photonics and condensed matter physics, representing an incremental improvement by simplifying measurement requirements.
The authors tackled the problem of classifying topological phases in leaky photonic lattices by using machine learning on bulk intensity measurements, achieving accurate determination of topological properties without complex phase retrieval.
We show how machine learning techniques can be applied for the classification of topological phases in leaky photonic lattices using limited measurement data. We propose an approach based solely on bulk intensity measurements, thus exempt from the need for complicated phase retrieval procedures. In particular, we design a fully connected neural network that accurately determines topological properties from the output intensity distribution in dimerized waveguide arrays with leaky channels, after propagation of a spatially localized initial excitation at a finite distance, in a setting that closely emulates realistic experimental conditions.