Event
Seminar Announcement: Dr. Yanne K. Chembo, Georgia Institute or Technology| CNRS Research Laboratory
Friday, May 5, 2017
3:00 a.m.
ERF 1207
Taylor Prendergast
301 405 4951
tprender@umd.edu
Title: Applied Nonlinear Dynamics in Photonics: From Optical Frequency Combs to Neuromorphic Computing
Abstract: In this talk, we present an overview of two topics that have emerged quite recently in nonlinear photonics. The first part of the talk will be devoted to optical frequency combs, which are obtained by pumping an ultra-high Q whispering-gallery mode cavity with a resonant laser. In these resonators, the small volume of confinement, high photon density, and long photon lifetime (exceeding the microsecond) induces a very strong light-matter interaction via bulk nonlinearities such as Kerr, Raman and Brillouin. We will discuss the latest theoretical advances related to the modelling of these phenomena, and outline some applications in aerospace and communication engineering. The second part of the talk will be devoted to photonic neuromorphic computing (or reservoir computing), a new paradigm that aims at performing ultrafast analog computation using the large bandwidths offered by nonlinear photonic systems. We will first discuss the fundamental principles of operation for reservoir computers. Then, we will present our optoelectronic implementation, which has been able to achieve a record performance of one million words per second recognition for spoken digits.
Bio: Yanne K. Chembo received a PhD degree in Nonlinear Dynamics from the University of Yaoundé I (Cameroon, 2001-2005) and independently, a PhD degree in Photonics from the University of the Balearic Islands (Palma de Mallorca, Spain, 2002-2006). He was also a PhD visiting student at IREAP in 2005. In 2007 and 2008, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the FEMTO-ST Institute in Besançon, France. In 2009, he was a NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) Fellow at the Quantum Science and Technology Group of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech (Pasadena, USA). From 2010 to 2016, he has been a Senior Research Scientist with CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) in France, with affiliation to the FEMTO-ST Institute, where he founded and led a research group on microwave photonics for aerospace and communication systems. In 2017, he joined the International GeorgiaTech-CNRS Research Laboratory in Atlanta, USA. His research interests involve microwave photonics, optoelectronics, as well as nonlinear, stochastic, and quantum dynamics of complex photonic systems.
