Xavier Porte was born in Manacor, Spain, in 1981. He received the MSc degree in 2011 and the PhD degree in 2015, both in Physics, from the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), Spain. His MSc and PhD main research topic was nonlinear dynamics of delay-coupled semiconductor lasers. From 2016 to 2018 he was with the Technical University Berlin, Germany, where he was engaged in research work on external optical coupling of quantum-dot microlasers for nanophotonic applications.

He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the FEMTO-ST Institute in Besançon, France, working on photonic spatio-temporal neural networks. His research interests range from nonlinear delay dynamics to nanophotonics and neuromorphic computing.

Project Abstract

New computational paradigms based on machine learning are strongly reshaping the world of information and communication technologies in last decades. Neural networks (NN) are the instruments used to explore this vast panorama of novel methods and applications. However, the very demanding matrix operations required to dynamically evolve complex NN make desirable to propose novel strategies towards the realization of fully and truly parallel computing architectures. Here, photonic networks implementing reservoir computing have become key strategic systems.

NEWRONS project essentially consists in the experimental realization of an autonomous all-optical NN, which will be implemented in the nonlinear photonics laboratory at the FEMTO-ST institute. This project inspires from the advances of the host group in implementing large fully analogue and parallel recurrent NNs to perform reservoir computing. NEWRONS will qualitative boost the state-of-the-art creating the first world- wide all-optical NN that does not require a supervising computer during operation. Thus enabling the autonomous operation necessary to build an optical processing unit (OPU). We will test and optimize the performance of our system in most important benchmarks. We will particularly focus on the proof-of-concept experiment of telecommunication signal conditioning using our autonomous all-optical concept, planned for the secondment period at the group of Prof. Sergei Turitsyn at AiPT (Aston University).

Finally, during the placement period we aim at the integration of our OPU into a web-interface accessible by the global scientific community via the collaboration with the enterprise partner LightOn in Paris. The successful realization of this objective will have a large impact, gathering the attention of the scientific community and specialized media on this project.

The overall action is designed to boost the career of the fellow in science. The complete supervision and training schedules synergize with the long term support from MULTIPLY and the important networking capabilities offered by this MSCA-cofund project.

More information about the project

Project Summary (will be updated later)

  • Xavier Porte, Louis Andreoli, Maxime Jacquot, Laurent Larger, and Daniel Brunner.“Reservoir-size dependent learning in analogue neural networks”, in book:Artificial Neural Networks and Machine Learning – ICANN 2019: Workshop and Special Sessions, pp.184-192 (2019). Open Access link here
  • Nadezhda Semenova, Xavier Porte, Louis Andreoli, Maxime Jacquot, Laurent Larger, and DanielBrunner.“Fundamental aspects of noise in analog-hardware neural networks”, Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science29, 103128 (2019). Open Access link here
  • Sheler Maktoobi, Luc Froehly, Louis Andreoli,Xavier Porte, Maxime Jacquot, Laurent Larger,and Daniel Brunner.“Diffractive Coupling For Photonic Networks: How Big Can We Go?”, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics26, 7600108 (2019). Open Access link here
  • Johnny Moughames, Xavier Porte, Laurent Larger, Maxime Jacquot, Muamer Kadic, and DanielBrunner.“3D printed multimode-splitters for photonic interconnects”,Optics Materials Express10(11), 2952-2961 (2020). Open Access link here
  • Johnny Moughames, Xavier Porte, Michael Thiel, Gwenn Ulliac, Laurent Larger, Maxime Jacquot,Muamer Kadic, and Daniel Brunner.“Three-dimensional waveguide interconnects for scalable integration of photonic neural networks”,Optica7(6), 640-646 (2020). Open Access link here
  • Louis Andreoli, Xavier Porte, Stéphane Chretien, Maxime Jacquot, Laurent Larger, and Daniel Brunner.“Boolean learning under noise-perturbations in hardware neural networks”,Nanopho-tonics9, 13 (2020). Open Access link here
  • L. Andreoli, X. Porte, T. Heuser, J. Große, B. Moeglen-Paget, L. Furfaro, S. Reitzenstein, and D. Brunner, “Optical pumping of quantum dot micropillar lasers,” Opt. Express 29, 9084-9097 (2021) Open Access link here
  • Xavier Porte, Anas Skalli, Nasibeh Haghighi, Stephan Reitzenstein, James A. Lott, and Daniel Brunner, “A complete, parallel and autonomous photonic neural network in a semiconductor multimode laser”. J. Phys. Photonics. Open Access link here
  • Xavier Porte; Daniel Brunner; Ingo Fischer; Miguel Cornelles Soriano. “Nonlinear Dynamics of a Single-Mode Semiconductor Laser with Long Delayed Optical Feedback: A Modern Experimental Characterization Approach”.
    PHOTONICS. 9(1) – 47, pp. 1 – 14 (2022). Open Access link here
  • Vladimir V. Semenov; Xavier Porte; Ibrahim Abdulhalim; Laurent Larger; Daniel Brunner. “Two-color optically addressed spatial light modulator as a generic spatiotemporal system”. CHAOS: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY
    JOURNAL OF NONLINEAR SCIENCE. 31 – 121104 (2021). Open Access link here
  • Xavier Porte; Niyazi Ulas Dinc; Johnny Moughames; Giulia Panusa; Carolina Juliano; Muamer Kadic; Christopher Moser; Daniel Brunner; Demetri Psaltis. “Direct (3+1)D laser writing of graded-index optical elements”. OPTICA. 8 –
    10, pp. 1281 – 1287 (2021). Open Access link here

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