PhD Candidate · Fudan University · Photonic Interconnect & Computing

Aolong Sun

孙 奥 龙

I design inverse-designed silicon photonic devices and multi-dimensional optical interconnects for next-generation on-chip computing and AI acceleration — working across algorithm, device and system.

3
Nature Comm. (1st)
13+
First-author papers
3
Best paper awards
2
Patents
01 — About

Research across algorithm, device and system.

I am a direct-PhD candidate at Fudan University and currently a visiting PhD researcher at A*STAR Institute of Microelectronics (IME), Singapore. My research focuses on inverse-designed silicon photonic devices, multi-dimensional optical interconnects, and integrated photonic computing for AI acceleration.

My work covers the full design stack — algorithm-level inverse design, chip-scale fabrication and packaging, and system-level high-speed coherent transmission and on-chip optical computing — aimed at scaling on-chip bandwidth, dimensionality and compute density on silicon.

Capabilities
  • 01
    Inverse Design
    Algorithm-level pixel/topology optimization for fabrication-ready photonic devices.
  • 02
    Device & Tape-out
    MDM/WDM components, modulators, full Foundry MPW & EBL fabrication experience.
  • 03
    High-speed Link
    Coherent/IM-DD transceivers, PAM/QAM DSP and on-chip link verification.
  • 04
    Photonic Computing
    Photonic tensor / reservoir / in-memory compute architectures for AI workloads.
02 — Projects

Funded projects from device engineering to system integration.

  1. 2026 — 2027
    NSFC · Youth Student

    Multi-dimensional photonic information processing for on-chip computing & interconnect

    Principal Investigator

    Photonic tensor computing scaled in parallelism by simultaneously multiplexing in time, space, frequency, mode and wavelength — unifying computation and interconnect in one architecture.

  2. 2025 — 2026
    CSC · Overseas Visiting Program

    Hyper-multiplexed photonic convolution processor for AI acceleration

    Principal Investigator

    Non-volatile in-memory photonic computing on phase-change materials. Mode-insensitive PCM compute units enable hyper-multiplexed convolution; an in-situ training scheme breaks PCM write-cycle limits.

  3. 2024 — 2026
    NDRC · Key Project

    Optical interconnect technology for large-scale compute chips

    Student Lead

    High-bandwidth silicon-photonic devices and multi-dimensional interconnect systems — process-robust inverse design, MDM/WDM components, high-speed microring modulators and on-chip high-speed link experiments.

  4. 2024 — 2026
    CETC-13 · Industrial Collaboration

    Silicon-photonic engine for 800G / 1.6T transceivers

    Student Lead

    800G silicon-photonic transceiver design and system packaging, with forward exploration for 1.6T — modulator doping optimization, high-density modulator/PD array integration, routing and multi-channel packaging.

03 — Publications

Selected works in silicon photonics, inverse design and optical computing.

  1. 2025 · Nature Communications

    Edge-guided inverse design of digital metamaterial-based mode multiplexers for high-capacity multi-dimensional optical interconnect

    An edge-guided inverse-design algorithm produces digital-metamaterial mode multiplexers that simultaneously achieve high capacity, broad bandwidth and fabrication robustness.

    Read →
  2. 2025 · Nature Communications

    Seamless optical cloud computing across edge-metro network for generative AI

    A photonic edge–metro architecture seamlessly stitches together distributed compute for generative-AI workloads, demonstrating end-to-end optical cloud inference.

    Read →
  3. 2026 · Nature Communications

    Ultra-broadband near- to mid-infrared electro-optic modulator on thin-film lithium niobate

    A thin-film lithium-niobate modulator delivers electro-optic modulation continuously from near-infrared into the mid-infrared, opening a path toward mid-IR coherent links and sensing.

    Read →
  4. 2025 · Photonics Research · Editor's Pick

    On-chip multi-band mode-division multiplexed optical interconnect using ultra-broadband inverse-designed digital metamaterials

    Ultra-broadband digital metamaterial multiplexers stitch multiple wavelength bands and spatial modes into a single chip — drastically lifting aggregate on-chip bandwidth.

    Read →
  5. 2024 · J. Lightwave Technology

    End-to-end deep-learning-based photonic-assisted multi-user fiber–mmWave integrated communication system

    An end-to-end deep-learning model jointly optimizes photonic-assisted fiber + millimeter-wave transmission for multiple users — encoder, channel and decoder learned together.

    Read →
  6. 2023 · Optics Express

    Inverse design of an ultra-compact dual-band wavelength demultiplexing power splitter with detailed analysis of hyperparameters

    A compact dual-band wavelength demultiplexing splitter is obtained by inverse design, with a systematic study of how optimizer hyperparameters shape device performance.

    Read →
04 — Awards

Distinctions across academia, innovation and scholarship.

— National & Honors
  • 2025National Scholarship for PhD Students
  • 2025CAST Youth Talent Cultivation Program
  • 2025Special Grand Prize · National Innovation Competition
  • 2025Excellence Award · National PhD Optics League
  • 2024National First Prize · China Postgraduate Chuangxin
  • 2019National Scholarship (Undergraduate)
— Provincial & School
  • 2025Silver Medal · China Int'l College Innovation (Shanghai)
  • 2025First Prize · Fudan Excellence Cup
  • 2024KLA Scholarship · Fudan University
  • 2023Samsung Scholarship · Fudan University
  • 2022Outstanding Graduate · HUST
  • 2019Top-1% Outstanding Undergraduate · HUST

— Patents

  1. 2025
    Edge-guided joint analog-digital inverse design method
    Invention Patent · Granted · Fudan University
    J. Zhang, A. Sun, N. Chi, X. Deng
  2. 2026
    Multi-dimensional multiplexed optical computing system & architecture
    Invention Patent · Pending · Fudan University
    J. Zhang, A. Sun, J. Zhao, S. Xing
  3. 2021
    Symmetric long-path optical cavity for infrared gas detection
    Utility Model Patent · Granted · HUST
    A. Sun, K. Wang, Y. Qian, L. Li, K. Cao, J. Lai, X. Zhang
05 — News

Recent moves, papers and talks.

  1. 2026 · 01
    Co-first-author paper on ultra-broadband near- to mid-IR EO modulator on thin-film lithium niobate accepted by Nature Communications (17:1138).
  2. 2025 · 12
    Awarded the NSFC Youth Student Basic Research Project (2026–2027) as PI.
  3. 2025 · 11
    Began visiting PhD at A*STAR Institute of Microelectronics (IME), Singapore.
  4. 2025 · 11
    Presented at IEEE Photonics Conference (IPC) 2025, Singapore.
  5. 2025 · 10
    First-author paper in Photonics Research 13(10) — Editor's Pick.
  6. 2025 · 10
    Selected for the CAST Youth Talent Cultivation Program.
  7. 2025 · 09
    Awarded the National Scholarship for PhD Students.
  8. 2025 · 08
    Special Grand Prize, China 新域新质 National Innovation Competition.
  9. 2025 · 07
    Excellence Award · National PhD Optics & Photonics Academic League.
  10. 2025 · 06
    Co-first-author paper on seamless optical cloud computing for generative AI published in Nature Communications (16:6097).
  11. 2025 · 06
    Silver Medal, China International College Students Innovation Competition (Shanghai).