Photonic decision making using optical frequency difference detection in mutually-coupled semiconductor lasers

Photonic accelerators, which harness the high speed and unique physical properties of light, have attracted growing attention as computational demands continue to rise while the performance gains of traditional electronic systems approach their limits. In this context, decision-making strategies based on delayed chaotic synchronization of semiconductor lasers have been explored. Conventional approaches rely on cross-correlation values to identify the leader within such systems. However, these methods suffer from high computational complexity and substantial memory requirements during dynamic processing. To overcome these limitations, we propose a frequency-based judgment method that utilizes the actual optical frequency difference. Through both numerical simulations and experimental validation, we demonstrate that this approach enables decision making via delayed chaotic synchronization, while significantly reducing computational cost and memory usage compared to a conventional cross-correlation-based technique.