Research

Our research explores how optical fields can be engineered and measured to efficiently and precisely extract physical information. We focus on the interplay between optical modes, quantum fluctuations, and measurement and estimation processes, and develop practical, often programmable, photonic systems to study and exploit these effects.

Information-driven photonics for sensing and imaging

We study how optical fields can be transformed to improve the estimation of physical parameters in sensing and imaging tasks. In particular, we investigate how spatial, spectral, and polarization degrees of freedom can be controlled to match the underlying physics of the measurement problem. This work is closely connected to areas such as computational imaging, while emphasizing physically grounded approaches to measurement design and information extraction.

Our work employs a range of photonic platforms, including optical metasurfaces, photonic integrated circuits, and programmable free-space optics. We develop these systems using a combination of analytical models and computational approaches, including inverse design and optimization, to realize optical transformations that efficiently extract relevant information from light. Applications include hyperspectral and thermal imaging, as well as parameter estimation under realistic constraints.

Structured quantum light for quantum metrology and simulation

We study structured quantum states of light as resources for quantum metrology and photonic simulation. A major focus is on continuous-variable quantum optics, where squeezing, quantum correlations, and multimode field structures provide a natural language for studying both precision measurement and bosonic dynamics.

For metrology, we develop theoretical and experimental tools to understand how physical information is encoded in quantum optical fields and how it can be accessed under realistic constraints such as loss and finite detection efficiency. For quantum simulation, we explore how the frequency modes of light can be used as synthetic dimensions to realize programmable bosonic lattice models, including topological and non-Hermitian photonic systems.

Other exploratory directions

We also pursue exploratory projects in related areas of optical physics and photonics, often motivated by tools and questions arising from our main research directions. Current topics include programmable photonic systems for computing and simulation, non-Hermitian dynamics, topological photonics, quantum communication concepts, and related studies of light–matter interaction.