Implementing SHA256 with Photonic Technology

Hey folks, I’m diving into photonics at uni and it’s got me really interested in integrated photonics. So, for my final project, I’m combining that with something else I’m passionate about: Bitcoin. I’m aiming to create a design, at least as a simulation, for hardware that can handle SHA-256 hash calculations using photonic methods. Ideally, I want it to be fully optical, and if I can swing it, I’d love to use WDM-based hardware for some parallel processing. What do you guys think about my project? I’d really appreciate any feedback you have. Any tips are totally welcome!

Many have looked into this, there was a startup a while back that raised millions to dev a photonic bitcoin chip, but they obviously didnt go anywhere. Photonics are only good for high bandwidth interconnections. Physics/manufacturing processes are not there yet to minimize the photonic elements to transistor sizes needed for a truly "photonic" hash engine.