Alireza Marandi

Alireza Marandi is a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), leading the Nonlinear Photonics Laboratory. He holds academic positions since 2017, including Visiting Associate (2017-18), Assistant Professor (2018-24), and current Professor (2024-). His research focuses on nonlinear photonics, ultrafast optics, quantum optics, and optical information processing, with applications in sensing, computing, and spectroscopy. Marandi earned a B.S. from the University of Tehran (2006), M.S. from the University of Victoria (2008), and Ph.D. from Stanford University (2013).

Research interests include nanophotonic devices, optical frequency combs, mid-infrared photonics, and topological photonics. His lab develops technologies like integrated optical parametric oscillators, ultrafast lasers, and neuromorphic photonic systems. Awards include the 2023 DARPA Young Faculty Award and a Sloan Fellowship. He advises students in advanced photonics research, including Saransh Sharma, Ryoto Sekine, and Louise Schul. His work bridges experimental and theoretical photonics, addressing challenges in quantum computing, optical sensing, and high-speed signal processing.

Key innovations include cross-comb spectroscopy, all-optical recurrent neural networks, and topological lasing systems. His lab collaborates on projects funded by DARPA and other agencies, advancing photonic technologies for next-generation computing and sensing applications.