Nature-inspired devices and architectures are attracting considerable attention for various purposes, including developing novel computing based on spatiotemporal dynamics, exploiting stochastic processes for computing, and reducing energy dissipation. This paper demonstrates that the optical energy transfer between quantum nanostructures mediated by optical near-field interactions occurring at scales far below the wavelength of light could be utilized for solving constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs). The optical energy transfer from smaller quantum dots to larger ones, which is a quantum stochastic process, depends on the existence of resonant energy levels between the quantum dots or a state-filling effect occurring at the larger quantum dots. Such a spatiotemporal mechanism yields different evolutions of energy transfer patterns in multi-quantum-dot systems. We numerically demonstrate that optical energy transfer processes can be used to solve a CSP. The work described in this paper is a first step in showing the applicability and potential of nanometer-scale optical near-field processes toward solving computationally demanding problems.

• Received 22 May 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.86.125407