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Cafe Scientifique 2025
Corretto Session
The Needle & Pin (Loughborough, UK)
Taming Complexity with Light: From Smart Lasers to Optical Computing" – A Lecture by Dr Juan Sebastian Totero Gongora
Taming Complexity with Light: From Smart Lasers to Optical Computing" – A Lecture by Dr Juan Sebastian Totero Gongora
Register for the event here and let us know if you'd like a 'caffè corretto'* ☕😇
*An Italian coffee with a splash of liquor.
Speaker
Speaker
Juan completed his PhD in Electrical Engineering in 2017 from KAUST University, KSA, following an MSc in Theoretical Physics of Disordered Systems (2012) from Sapienza University, Italy. In 2017 he joined the Emergent Photonics (EPic) Lab at the University of Sussex as a Research Fellow in Experimental Photonics to develop complex nonlinear imaging experiments using terahertz waves and unconventional THz nonlinear sources.
In 2019 Juan secured a “Helena Normanton Fellowship” from the University of Sussex and in 2020 a Leverhulme Trust “Early Career Fellowship”. Both projects focused on the role played by complex nonlinear interactions in the formation of a special class of nonlinear waves, known as laser cavity solitons, in micro-comb systems.
In July 2022, Juan joined Loughborough University as a Senior Lecturer and a member of the Emergent Photonics Research Centre. His current research, funded by a five-year EPSRC Quantum Technologies Career Development Fellowship, focuses on the integration of data-driven control techniques for high-power micro-comb lasers, and their application for complexity-driven neuromorphic photonics systems.
Lecture
Lecture
Taming complexity with light: from smart lasers to optical computing
From the unpredictable patterns of the weather to the inexplicable workings of the human brain, complexity is all around us. These systems, made up of many interacting parts, often behave unexpectedly—sometimes making them difficult to understand or control. But what if we could harness complexity and unpredictability instead of avoiding it?
In this talk, I will explore how complexity can play a surprising role in the physics of light and how we can use it to develop smarter optical technologies. I will introduce our research on self-optimizing lasers and light-based computing systems, showing how ideas from artificial intelligence and neuromorphic computing can help us unlock new capabilities in photonics.
Sponsor
Sponsor
Loughborough University OPTICA Student Chapter
Organisers
Organisers
Location
Location
Address: 15 The Rushes, Loughborough, United Kingdom, LE11 5BE
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