Research map / Image generation
Fast diffusion sampling: research map
1,866 accepted papers on Fast diffusion sampling in Image generation, from ICML, NeurIPS, ICLR, CVPR and AAAI (2016–2026), grouped into 4 clusters and 16 approaches. The busiest year so far is 2026.
Within Image generation, its share grew from 22.1% in 2023–24 to 32.3% in 2025–26 (460 → 1,322 papers at ICML, NeurIPS, CVPR and AAAI, the venues with data for all four years).
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Approaches and key papers
score · distribution · denoising diffusion · 972 papers
Approaches in this cluster:
- Diffusion theory and design space (252 papers)
Analyze convergence of score-based diffusion and optimize noise schedules and training design. - Distributional control of diffusion (109 papers)
Steer pretrained generators for diversity, minority sampling, and distribution-level guidance. - Denoising diffusion probabilistic models (97 papers)
Develop DDPM variants, implicit samplers, and bridge formulations for generation and denoising. - Guidance for conditional diffusion (123 papers)
Improve classifier-free and rectified guidance for conditional generation. - Diffusion posterior sampling (72 papers)
Solve inverse problems with diffusion priors through posterior sampling. - Diffusion theory and learned samplers (121 papers)
Provides variational and non-asymptotic views of diffusion and learns diffusions for sampling. - Diffusion models as perception tools (198 papers)
Use diffusion models for segmentation, adaptation, and data generation in discriminative tasks.
Most cited and most cited since 2024:
- Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models (NeurIPS 2020 · 5,610 citations)
- Diffusion Models Beat GANs on Image Synthesis (NeurIPS 2021 · 2,151 citations)
- Plug-In Diffusion Model for Sequential Recommendation (AAAI 2024 · 63 citations)
- Region-Disentangled Diffusion Model for High-Fidelity PPG-to-ECG Translation (AAAI 2024 · 39 citations)
steps · distillation · time · 484 papers
Approaches in this cluster:
- Training-free diffusion acceleration (257 papers)
Speed diffusion inference through caching, pruning, early exit, and adaptive step selection. - Fast diffusion ODE solvers (120 papers)
Reduce sampling steps with exponential integrators, parallel sampling, and optimized timesteps. - Distillation for few-step generation (84 papers)
Distill diffusion models and datasets into fast generators using distribution matching. - Accelerated diffusion policies (23 papers)
Speed robotic and driving diffusion policies with distillation and pruning.
Most cited and most cited since 2024:
- Parallel WaveNet: Fast High-Fidelity Speech Synthesis (ICML 2018 · 335 citations)
- Professor Forcing: A New Algorithm for Training Recurrent Networks (NeurIPS 2016 · 321 citations)
- One-step Diffusion with Distribution Matching Distillation (CVPR 2024 · 146 citations)
- DeepCache: Accelerating Diffusion Models for Free (CVPR 2024 · 136 citations)
discrete · diffusion language · masked · 211 papers
Approaches in this cluster:
- Masked diffusion language model decoding (147 papers)
Accelerate and improve parallel decoding of masked diffusion language models. - Discrete diffusion solvers (64 papers)
Develop fast solvers, correctors, and hybrid formulations for discrete-state diffusion.
Most cited and most cited since 2024:
- Structured Denoising Diffusion Models in Discrete State-Spaces (NeurIPS 2021 · 82 citations)
- Analog Bits: Generating Discrete Data using Diffusion Models with Self-Conditioning (ICLR 2023 · 80 citations)
- Diffusion Forcing: Next-token Prediction Meets Full-Sequence Diffusion (NeurIPS 2024 · 47 citations)
- Simplified and Generalized Masked Diffusion for Discrete Data (NeurIPS 2024 · 15 citations)
flow · matching · rectified · 199 papers
Approaches in this cluster:
- Flow matching distillation (95 papers)
Distill and align flow matching models into few-step generators. - Rectified flow straightening (70 papers)
Straighten flow trajectories with reflow to speed up generation. - Guidance and alignment for flow matching (34 papers)
Improve guidance, stability, and reward alignment in flow matching models.
Most cited and most cited since 2024:
- Flow Straight and Fast: Learning to Generate and Transfer Data with Rectified Flow (ICLR 2023 · 84 citations)
- FlowDiffuser: Advancing Optical Flow Estimation with Diffusion Models (CVPR 2024 · 42 citations)
- DepthFM: Fast Generative Monocular Depth Estimation with Flow Matching (AAAI 2025 · 37 citations)
- GoalFlow: Goal-Driven Flow Matching for Multimodal Trajectories Generation in End-to-End Autonomous Driving (CVPR 2025 · 30 citations)
Related topics in Image generation
- Autoregressive and latent generation (1,747)
- GANs (515)
- Super-resolution (429)
- Editing and style transfer (988)
- Image restoration (1,184)
- Text-to-image diffusion (1,310)