Actor neural networks for the robust control of partially measured nonlinear systems showcased for image propagation through diffuse media

The output of physical systems, such as the scrambled pattern formed by shining the spot of a laser pointer through fog, is often easily accessible by direct measurements. However, selection of the input of such a system to obtain a desired output is difficult, because it is an ill-posed problem; that is, there are multiple inputs yielding the same output. Information transmission through scattering media is an example of this problem. Machine learning approaches for imaging have been implemented very successfully in photonics to recover the original input phase and amplitude objects of the scattering system from the distorted intensity diffraction pattern outputs. However, controlling the output of such a system, without having examples of inputs that can produce outputs in the class of the output objects the user wants to produce, is a challenging problem. Here, we propose an online learning approach for the projection of arbitrary shapes through a multimode fibre when a sample of intensity-only measurements is taken at the output. This projection system is nonlinear, because the intensity, not the complex amplitude, is detected. We show an image projection fidelity as high as similar to 90%, which is on par with the gold-standard methods that characterize the system fully by phase and amplitude measurements. The generality and simplicity of the proposed approach could potentially provide a new way of target-oriented control in real-world applications when only partial measurements are available.