Prof. Dr. Birgit Stiller - Let there be sound - acoustic waves harnessing optical neural networks and quantum technologies

The interaction of light waves and acoustic vibrations links two very different domains in terms of frequency, velocity, dissipation and sensitivity to the environment. This opens the path to interesting applications in photonic neuromorphic computing, quantum signal processing and sensing. We investigate sound-based reconfigurable photonic neural networks and information processing in the spatial and frequency domain, in optical fibers as well as on-chip. We harness quantum acoustics for quantum memory and quantum information processing in cavity-less configurations and study photon-phonon entanglement. Our interest extends to monitoring acoustically novel thermodynamic regimes such as negative pressure and to unleashing new high-gain platforms which help for energy efficient neuromorphic computing.