Tenured Scientist · IFISC (CSIC-UIB) · Mallorca, Spain
Nonlinear photonics and information processing
My research focuses on nonlinear dynamics and information processing, with a particular emphasis on semiconductor lasers and reservoir computing. I combine experiments, theoretical modelling, and numerical simulations to investigate complex dynamics and their applications in computation and communications.
Research interests Explore research lines →
- Nonlinear photonics: dynamics of semiconductor lasers with optical feedback and delayed coupling, including chaos, synchronization, and chaos-based communications.
- Reservoir computing: using the responses of dynamical systems to process information, with a focus on photonic and optoelectronic implementations for prediction and classification, and on the effects of noise and hardware constraints.
- Quantum information processing: exploring reservoir computing in quantum systems, including spin networks and continuous-variable optical systems.
- Time-series analysis and machine learning: developing methods to characterize complex signals and distinguish chaotic from stochastic dynamics, and using machine learning to model and predict dynamical systems.
Selected publications Full publication list →
- Experimental memory control in continuous-variable optical quantum reservoir computing Nature Photonics 20, 413–420 (2026)
- Quantifying the diversity of multiple time series with an ordinal symbolic approach Physical Review E 108, 065302 (2023)
- Advances in photonic reservoir computing Nanophotonics 6, 561–576 (2017)
- Delay-based reservoir computing: Noise effects in a combined analog and digital implementation IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems 26, 388–393 (2015)
- Parallel photonic information processing at gigabyte per second data rates using transient states Nature Communications 4, 1364 (2013)
- Complex photonics: Dynamics and applications of delay-coupled semiconductors lasers Reviews of Modern Physics 85, 421–470 (2013)
- Information processing using a single dynamical node as complex system Nature Communications 2, 468 (2011)
Research leadership and impact
I helped establish reservoir computing based on a single nonlinear node with delayed feedback. For the demonstration reported in Appeltant et al. (Nature Communications, 2011), I built the experimental system and obtained the experimental results. I subsequently contributed to photonic implementations of this approach. My work also addresses the dynamics of delay-coupled semiconductor lasers and the development of methods for characterizing complex time series.
My research leadership includes serving as Principal Investigator of the QUARESC subproject and co-Principal Investigator of INFOLANET, alongside leadership roles in European collaborations. Since 2025, I have been President of the RSEF Group and SEDOPTICA Committee on Quantum and Nonlinear Optics (GEOCONL/QUONLOP).
Current projects All projects →
POSTDIGITAL+ · 2025–2029
European doctoral network on unconventional computing, bringing together academic and industrial partners. I am Principal Investigator for the CSIC/IFISC team and lead WP1: New concepts, learning & hardware optimization. My contribution explores how nonlinear dynamics can support learning
and information processing in physical hardware.
NEHIL · 2024–2027
EU–Korea project on neuromorphic computing and integrated photonics for LiDAR applications. I am Principal Investigator for the CSIC/IFISC team and lead WP2: Theory, modelling and design. My contribution focuses on robustness and adaptability, investigating
how neuromorphic systems can maintain or recover computational
performance under noise, device variability and component failures.
Laboratory, teaching, and supervision
At IFISC, I am responsible for the Nonlinear Physics Laboratory and contribute to the Nonlinear Photonics Lab. Our experiments use nonlinear electronic systems and semiconductor lasers to investigate dynamics and information processing.
I teach Complex Photonics and Applied Data Analysis and Machine Learning in the Master's Degree in Physics of Complex Systems at the University of the Balearic Islands.
I have co-supervised six completed PhD theses, with five more ongoing, and supervised fifteen master's theses in nonlinear dynamics and information processing.
I also participate in science outreach activities, including science fairs and Researchers' Night.
Knowledge transfer
My knowledge-transfer activities include industrial collaborations. I am a co-inventor on a patent family on arrhythmia-related heartbeat classification, with patents granted in Europe, the United States, and China.
Education
PhD in Applied Physics and Photonics, with greatest distinction, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium (2006).
Degree in Telecommunications Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (2002), with the final degree project carried out in Belgium under an Erasmus scholarship.
Selected conference presentations
- "Unconventional Computing with Photonic Substrates", Workshop on Unconventional Computing, Erice, Italy (2024).
- "Inferring untrained dynamics of complex systems using adapted recurrent neural networks", Dynamics Days Europe 2022, Aberdeen, UK (2022).
- "Delay-based Photonic Reservoir Computing", ERC International Workshop "Photonic Reservoir Computing and Information Processing in Complex Networks", Trento, Italy (2019).
- "Dynamics and applications of delay-coupled semiconductor lasers", International Symposium on Physics and Applications of Laser Dynamics, Taiwan (2016).
- "Consistency and chaos synchronization in delay-coupled semiconductor lasers", XXXV Dynamics Days Europe, Exeter, UK (2015).
- "A Novel Photonics Approach to Unconventional Information Processing", European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC), Amsterdam, Holland (2012).
- "Open vs closed loop receivers in all-optical chaos-based communication systems: the final round", CLEO Europe EQEC, Munich, Germany (2009).
- "The influence of current noise on polarization mode hopping in vertical cavity surface emitting lasers", SPIE Photonics Europe, Strasbourg, France (2006).
- "Single-mode low frequency fluctuations in vertical cavity surface emitting lasers with polarization-filtered feedback", SPIE Photonics Europe, Strasbourg, France (2004).
