This Research Chair will address major scientific and technological challenges arising from the rapidly growing demand for large-scale data computation and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The increasing reliance on electronic AI infrastructure raises significant energy, environmental, and economic concerns, creating an urgent need for more efficient computing approaches. Photonics offers a promising pathway to ultrafast data processing with substantially reduced power consumption and is attracting significant investments from governments and leading technology companies worldwide.
Building on Prof. Azaña’s group’s expertise in optical signal processing, the Chair will develop innovative photonic computing technologies for large-scale, energy-efficient AI and data processing. Its central goal is to establish new optical computing concepts and architectures, with a particular focus on integrated optical neural networks (ONNs), that combine high processing speed, energy efficiency, scalability, and flexibility to meet the growing demands of emerging Information and Communication Technology (ICT) applications. These include autonomous vehicles, remote sensing, advanced manufacturing, high-performance computing, robotics, intelligent imaging, cybersecurity, and next-generation fiber-optic, wireless, and satellite communications.
Holder
Prof. José Azaña, a Fellow of Optica, is an internationally recognized authority in photonic signal processing using fiber-optic and integrated-waveguide technologies for telecommunications, remote sensing, quantum optics, and other applications. Over the years, many of the optical signal analysis and processing tools developed by Prof. Azaña and his group at INRS, including pioneering methods for real-time spectral analysis, have attracted significant international interest and are now routinely used in academic and industrial settings worldwide, contributing to important advances in science and technology.
Prof. Azaña’s research achievements have been recognized through several prestigious distinctions, including the IEEE Photonics Society Young Investigator Award (2008), the IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society Microwave Prize (2009), and, more recently, the Brockhouse Canada Prize for Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Engineering (2020). At INRS, Prof. Azaña has contributed to the training of more than 20 postdoctoral fellows and 45 graduate students, including 30 PhD students, as well as numerous short-term postdoctoral, graduate, and undergraduate interns. Many of these highly trained researchers have gone on to successful careers in academia, including faculty positions, and in leading industrial organizations in Quebec, across Canada, and internationally.
Context
Advanced computing strategies, such as Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), are increasingly central to many advanced ICT applications, from autonomous vehicles to agile ultrahigh-capacity telecommunications. However, current approaches face growing computational and energy-efficiency challenges in conventional digital implementations. Optical computing, including optical neural networks (ONNs), offers a promising alternative, enabling ultrafast and energy-efficient information processing. However, available solutions remain limited by inefficient optical-electronic conversions, scalability, and reconfigurability.
This Research Chair will develop novel optical computing systems, with a focus on optical neural networking, by leveraging the speed and efficiency of photonics for advanced information processing. The overarching goal is to establish new optical computing architectures capable of meeting the increasingly stringent performance requirements of emerging ICT applications, including high processing speed, low power consumption, scalability, and reconfigurability. The Chair will target the realization of these optical computing engines using compact, cost-effective fiber-optic technologies and/or integrated photonic chips, paving the way toward their future mass production and practical deployment.
Goals
The Chair will develop innovative photonic computing technologies for large-scale, energy-efficient AI and data processing, contributing to positioning Québec at the forefront of this rapidly evolving field. The program will also generate new fiber-optic and integrated photonic technologies and know-how with important applications across industry and emerging sectors, including telecommunications, sensing, radar/LiDAR, and quantum optics. It will also train highly qualified personnel with advanced technical skills that are increasingly in demand, while fostering collaborations with industry, particularly in Québec, and pursuing intellectual property protection and pathways toward the commercialization and practical deployment of the developed knowledge and technologies.
Partners and collaborators
The Chair will build on Professor Azaña’s well-established collaborations with academic institutions, research organizations, and industrial partners.
Key academic collaborators include research teams at INRS, McGill, Poly Montreal, and Univ. Laval in Quebec; Univ. of Ottawa, Univ. of British Columbia and Univ. of Toronto in Canada; and across many other universities abroad. Industrial partners in Quebec and Canada include Fonex, Enablence, Ki3 Photonics, MPB Communications, Aeponyx, Teledyne etc.