Nonlinear Neuromorphic and Quantum Photonics

Our research group focuses both theoretically and experimentally on the investigation of light-matter interaction at the nanoscale and using micro/nanostructured optical systems, with a focus on the use of parametric optical nonlinearities for generation and manipulation of light, both in the classical and quantum regime.

On the classical side, a large focus of the group is on the investigation and development of diffractive optical neural networks for all-optical image classification and analysis applications, thanks to the junior group funding from the Nexus program of the Carl Zeiss Foundation, with the project title “Metasurfaces for Diffractive Deep Neural Networks (MetaNN)”. In our research, we have a focus on using dielectric metasurfaces, as they offer an unrivaled control over the diffractive properties of light and also for enhancement of optical nonlinearities, such as second-harmonic generation, both capabilities that are crucial for the development of all-optical diffractive deep neural networks.

On the quantum side, we fundamentally investigate quantum light-matter interactions in nonlinear nanoscale/nanostructured optical systems, based on photon-pair and squeezed-light generation processes, with a focus on open, absorptive, and/or hybrid atom-mediated systems. Specially, we investigate the use of such systems for applications in quantum imaging and spectroscopy and for generation of desired states of quantum light for quantum information processing. In this regard, we also have a special focus on description, design, and development of sources of entangled photon pairs using nonlinear metasurfaces.