Forecasting can be performed by passive optical diffraction rather than learned digital networks, achieving competitive or better results while suggesting the forecasting task itself may be fundamentally simpler than transformer-based approaches assume.
HAMON replaces learned digital layers in time-series forecasting with a passive optical system using diffraction and phase masks. Historical data is encoded onto an optical aperture, and future predictions emerge directly from light propagating through trainable phase masks—no digital sequence mixing needed.