Daniel Brunner
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PI
Daniel Brunner - PI of INSPIRE - is a CNRS researcher with the FEMTO-ST, France. His interests include novel computing using quantum or nonlinear substrates with a focuses on photonic neural networks. He was received several University and the IOP’s 2010 Roys prize, the IOP Journal Of Physics: Photonics emerging leader 2021 prize as well as the CNRS Bronze medal in 2022. He edited one Book and three special issues, has presented his results 60+ times upon invitation, has published 70+ scientific articles, has been awarded a prestigious ERC Consolidator grant and is a pilot of the French PEPR Electronique project of the France 2030 initiative.
Lucero Cárdenas-Razo
PhD student
Lucero Cardenas Razo is a doctoral student at FEMTO-ST in Besançon, France, under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Brunner. Her research is focused on the development of a deep optical neural network based on cascaded multimode vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs). Her specialization is the development of optical setups in free space and fiber.
She completed her master's degree in Tampere University and Universite Aix-Marseille, under a Erasmus Mundus Master Europhotonics program. Her master's thesis project was conducted under the supervision of Regina Gumenyuk and the topic was to develop dual comb fiber lasers. She obtained her bachelor in Physics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where she gained experience in diverse fields as fiber optics, high power lasers and quantum optics.
Victor Genin
PhD student
Victor Genin is currently a PhD student in the team of Dr. Daniel Brunner at FEMTO-ST in Besançon, France. His research focuses on the realization of a biologically inspired, fully parallel and scalable 3D architecture using photonic 3D integrated network. His specialization lies in 3D micro-printing and optical neural networks.
He completed his master’s thesis at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne under the supervision of Dr. Demetri Psaltis, where he worked on optical neural networks based on reservoir computing architecture. He conducted his bachelor's degree thesis at the Franche Comté University in Besançon, France on the characterization of an optical neural network as well as the characterization of photonic crystal produced within a suspended layer of lithium niobate, with the oversight of Dr. Maria Pilar Bernal.
Mirko Goldmann
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Postdoc (2024)
Mirko Goldmann received his B.Sc. in Technical Physics from the Technical University of Ilmenau and his M.Sc. in Physics from the Technical University of Berlin in 2020. Following his master's studies, he pursued a Ph.D. at the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Physics and Complex Systems (IFISC, UIB-CSIC) at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), Spain. As part of the European Training Network "Post-Digital," his research focused on the development and implementation of unconventional computing paradigms in photonic hardware. He successfully completed his Ph.D. in 2024. Currently, he works as a Photonic Design Engineer at Akhetonics applying his expertise in photonic computing and optimization of physical systems.
Mehdi Mabed
Postdoc
After defending his thesis under the supervision of John Michael DUDLEY in Besançon at FEMTO-ST, Mehdi MABED began his Postdoc with Daniel BRUNNERin the same institute. His work aims at developing algorithms able to train optical neural networks faster and more efficiently than current methods.
Mehdi graduated from the engineering school of Besançon (E.N.S.M.M.) and then completed a master degree in computational physics at the University of Franche-Comté. He continued his studies with a thesis in which he used machine learning methods to predict temporal properties of chaotic optical fiber system in which modulation instability and supercontinuum dynamics take place.
Kanhaya Sharma
PhD student
Kanhaya Sharma is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at FEMTO-ST in Besançon, France, under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Brunner. His research focuses on developing faster, more compact, and energy-efficient hardware for neural networks to advance the field of artificial intelligence. His specialization lies in 3D micro-printing and study of optical devices.
He completed his master's thesis at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi under the supervision of Dr. Jaime Viegas, where he worked on AI hardware acceleration using a silicon photonics platform. Prior to that, he conducted his bachelor's thesis at the Vellore Institute of Technology in Chennai, India, gaining experience in diverse fields such as MEMS, microfluidics, and surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices.
Anas Skalli
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Postdoc
Anas Skalli received his Bachelor of Engineering Physics from Grenoble Institute of Technology and a Master’s degree in Engineering Physics from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in 2020. He then pursued a Ph.D. in optics and photonics engineering under the supervision of Daniel Brunner at the Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, France, as part of the European Training Network "Post-Digital." His research at the FEMTO-ST Institute focused on the development of semiconductor laser-based optical neural networks, hardware-compatible learning strategies, and photonic computing. He successfully completed his Ph.D. in 2024.