Upcoming Talks

Swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) combines narrow-linewidth, wavelength-tunable lasers with interferometric detection to achieve high-resolution, depth-resolved imaging in scattering media. This presentation focuses on the implementation of thermally and MEMS-tuned VCSEL sources in compact OCT systems, and their potential to enable next-generation medical diagnostics.

Milana Kendrisic is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine (Harvard Medical School / Massachusetts General Hospital), specializing in the development of innovative optical coherence tomography (OCT) technologies. Her research spans from designing low-cost OCT systems and capsule endoscopes for accessible diagnostics, to advancing dynamic contrast methods for enhanced imaging performance, with the overarching goal of broadening OCT’s clinical impact.

If we augment part of a classical network with quantum capabilities, what can be done better than in the purely classical setting? In this talk, we will see two use cases in optical networks where a quantum augmentation could be beneficial: 1) localizing transmission loss change; and 2) learning link transmissivities. The ability to localize transmission loss change in optical networks is crucial for maintaining network reliability, performance and security. Quantum probes, implemented by sending blocks of n coherent-state pulses augmented with continuous-variable (CV) squeezing (n = 1) or weak temporal-mode entanglement (n > 1) over a lossy channel to a receiver with homodyne detection capabilities, are known to be more sensitive than their quasi-classical counterparts in detecting a sudden increase in channel loss. Assuming a subset of network nodes can send and receive such probes, I will present a scheme that combines these quantum probes with classical frameworks of Boolean network tomography and Quickest Change Detection. This combination of techniques leads to a quantifiable asymptotic quantum speedup for localizing transmission drop. In the second part of the talk, I will show that the same set of quantum probes, when applied to learning link transmissivities, may lead to a smaller error-ellipsoid volume. However, this observation is only preliminary.

Yufei Zheng is a postdoc at UMass Amherst, working with Don Towsley. She completed her PhD in the Department of Computer Science at Princeton University, where she was advised by Jennifer Rexford. Prior to that, she spent some time in Technion working on enumerative combinatorics. Yet another pivot in research focus came when she became interested in quantum computing during the fifth year of her PhD. Her recent research has focused on quantum-augmented networks, and she is broadly interested in finding quantum advantage wherever they may arise.

Recent designs for novel infrared fiber amplifiers in all-optical unregenerated DWDM transmission circumnavigating the Earth with satellite free-space and subsea fiber lightwave systems are discussed. Practical architectures and timelines for deployment of these novel amplifiers and systems are presented. The talk will cover the following points: +Motivation for This Work +Bottom Line Up Front +Basic Elements of Lightwave Communications Systems +Key Spectral Operating Bands for IR Fiber Amplifiers +Design of 1550 nm Fiber Amplifiers for Satellite Free Space DWDM Transmission (Developed at Fibertek) +System Design for 1550 nm 40,000 km Satellite Free Space Unregenerated Transmission +Design of 2000 nm Fiber Amplifiers for Terrestrial/Subsea Fiber Optic DWDM Transmission (Developed at RET and Associates) +System Design for 2000 nm 40,000 km Fiber Optic DWDM Unregenerated Transmission +Comparison of Free Space Satellite and Fiber Optic Terrestrial/Subsea Fiber Amplifiers and All-Optical Unregenerated Transmission Systems that Circumnavigate the Earth +Conclusions and Summary

Dr. Robert E. Tench received a B.A. in Physics with High Honors from Swarthmore College in 1978 and a Ph.D. in Physics from MIT in 1985. The title of his dissertation was "Precision Studies of Atom-Field Interaction in Vapors" and his thesis supervisor was Prof. Shaoul Ezekiel of EECS and AeroAstro. His photonics and fiber optics career has involved research, development, and manufacturing at AT&T and Lucent Bell Labs, Agere Systems, the National Security Agency, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Cybel LLC, and Fibertek. He is currently President and Chief Scientist at RET and Associates LLC (www.retandassociatesllc.com). He has placed over two dozen photonics and fiber optics products into manufacture, has twelve patents granted or pending, and has published over 115 journal and conference papers.

I will show an application of the Lean automated theorem proved in physics.

BSc: Victoria university of Wellington, NZ MSc+PhD: Uppsala University, Sweden Postdoc: MIT