This project will investigate new hardware to solve computationally hard optimization problems. The hardware is based on a unique combination of two ground-breaking ideas that have been developed at UGent and VUB-APHY respectively. They are now being brought together for the first time to create a novel photonic neuromorphic architecture, enabling an unprecedented combination of speed and power efficiency. The two concepts combined yield a novel architecture for Ising machines. Next to developing this new high speed implementation, we will develop in parallel theory based on continuation methods to understand the operation of these Ising machines and the difficulty of the problems at hand. Finally, for our Ising machines to be viable future candidates to tackle a broad range of optimisation problems, we have to move beyond quadratic unconstrained binary optimization methods. Therefore, in this project we explore higher order spin couplings and multilevel spin systems.