SPIE Artificial Intelligence Plenary

Harish Bhaskaran, from the University of Oxford and partner of HYBRAIN, participated as a speaker in the Artificial Intelligence Plenary on 6 August 2025, organised by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.

His talk explored how photonic computing is rapidly moving from research to real-world impact, driven by the convergence of urgent compute demands, mature photonic components, and a skilled workforce. Starting from a brief perspective on the history of computing, the presentation focused on recent advances from his research group at Oxford, including on-chip photonic memory devices, analog and in-memory photonic computing, and neurosynaptic architectures.

A key part of the talk addressed the challenge of scalability and presented new approaches based on phonon-assisted optical processes, enabling optical control of optical signals. By combining these effects with spatiospectral concepts and integrated nanoantennas, the work opens new possibilities for fast, configurable nonlinear optical circuits where photon–photon interactions are mediated through thermal effects.

The plenary highlighted the growing role of photonics as a complementary, and potentially transformative, approach for future AI hardware. Harish also acknowledged the support of EU-funded projects, including HYBRAIN, and the role of SPIE in fostering cross-disciplinary exchange between established researchers and early-career scientists at this inaugural AI session.