publications

2026

1. Nat. Commun.

   

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

   Q. Li*, Q. Yi*, A. Sun*, A. Pan*, et al. (* equal contribution)

   Nature Communications, 17:1138, 2026 · Co-first author

   modulatormid-infraredthin-film lithium niobate

   Abs DOI PDF Scholar Details

   A thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) electro-optic modulator with an unprecedented 800 nm operational bandwidth — covering the full O-to-U telecom bands and extending into the 2-µm regime. It shows >67 GHz EO bandwidth across O/S/C/L bands (~100 GHz at the centre bands) and >50 GHz at 2 µm, enabling single-lane >240 Gbps PAM-4 in the O-U range and a record 170 Gbps PAM-4 at 2 µm.

2. ECOC

   

   Inverse-Designed Silicon Six-Mode Multiplexer for 1.6T/λ Mode-Division Multiplexing Interconnect with AI-Enhanced Reception

   A. Sun†, Y. Yuan†, J. He†, A. Yan, Y. Hu, J. Zhao, N. Chi, J. Zhang*. († equal contribution · * corresponding)

   ECOC 2026, 2026 · Málaga, Spain

   inverse designmode multiplexingoptical interconnectdeep learning

   Abs ECOC 2026 Scholar Details

   An inverse-designed pixelated six-mode multiplexer (8 × 10 µm²) — to our knowledge the highest mode count for an experimentally demonstrated topology-optimized silicon mode MUX — with insertion loss below 1.9 dB and crosstalk below −14.6 dB at 1550 nm. Combined with a temporal convolutional network (TCN) equalizer, 90-GBaud PAM-8 transmission over the six modes reaches a single-wavelength capacity of 1.62 Tb/s/λ (16.36 bit/s/Hz).

2025

1. Photon. Res. Editor's Pick

   

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

   A. Sun, Q. Li, Y. Yuan, et al.

   Photonics Research, 13(10), 2025 · First author

   inverse designmode multiplexingoptical interconnectdigital metamaterialssilicon photonics

   Abs DOI Scholar Details

   The first multi-band mode multiplexer (MUX) built on a digital-metamaterial structure, supporting the first three TE modes within a 6 × 4.8 µm² footprint. It keeps an exceptionally flat response across 1500–2100 nm, with measured insertion loss below 4.3 / 4.0 dB and crosstalk below −11.6 / −11.3 dB in the 1525–1585 nm and 1940–2040 nm bands, enabling 3-mode × 180 Gb/s at 1.55 µm and a record 3-mode × 114 Gb/s at 2 µm.

2. IPC

   

   Inverse-designed silicon nitride wavelength demultiplexers bridging the visible and telecom bands

   A. Sun, Y. Yuan, J. Hu, et al.

   IEEE Photonics Conference (IPC), 2025 · Singapore

   inverse designwavelength demultiplexingsilicon photonics

   Abs Proceedings Scholar Details

   Two compact (6 × 8 µm²) silicon-nitride wavelength demultiplexers, inverse-designed to bridge the 600/1550 nm and 600/1310 nm bands — the first deMUXes directly connecting the visible and telecom regimes. Insertion loss is below 0.75 / 0.68 dB and crosstalk below −18.6 / −20.6 dB at the centre wavelengths, with an 80 nm minimum feature size.

3. Nat. Commun.

   

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

   S. Xing*, A. Sun*, C. Wang*, et al. (* equal contribution)

   Nature Communications, 16:6097, 2025 · Co-first author

   photonic computingoptical interconnectdeep learning

   Abs DOI PDF Scholar Details

   An optical cloud-computing architecture seamlessly deployed across an edge–metro network. Inputs and AI models are modulated onto light, letting edge nodes directly access an optical computing center over the edge–metro fibre. Experiments measure 118.6 mW/TOPs energy efficiency — two orders of magnitude lower than electronic cloud computing — and the same architecture runs multiple complex generative-AI models in parallel for image generation.

4. OFC

   

   Ultra-compact and low-loss pixelated mode (de)-multiplexer for mode-division multiplexed coherent-lite optical interconnects

   A. Sun*, H. Tan*, X. Deng*, et al. (* equal contribution)

   OFC 2025, 2025 · San Francisco

   inverse designmode multiplexingcoherent transmissionsilicon photonics

   Abs Proceedings Scholar Details

   An ultra-compact, low-loss pixelated four-TE-mode (de)multiplexer with sub-1 dB insertion loss for all modes at 1550 nm, enabling net 1.09 Tb/s/λ SCM-32QAM transmission across 16 wavelengths in mode-division-multiplexed coherent-lite optical interconnects.

5. Nat. Commun.

   

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

   A. Sun*, S. Xing*, et al. (* equal contribution)

   Nature Communications, 16:2372, 2025 · Co-first author

   inverse designmode multiplexingoptical interconnectdigital metamaterialssilicon photonics

   Abs DOI PDF Scholar Details

   A high-capacity on-chip optical interconnect that jointly multiplexes wavelength, mode and higher-order modulation, demonstrating 38.2 Tb/s aggregate capacity over a single silicon waveguide (5 modes × 88 wavelengths, up to PAM-8). The enabling element is a compact, broadband, fabrication-robust mode (de)multiplexer obtained by an edge-guided inverse-design method on a digital metamaterial.

2024

1. JLT

   

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

   A. Sun, et al.

   Journal of Lightwave Technology, 42(1), 2024 · First author

   deep learningfiber-mmWavecommunication systems

   Abs DOI Scholar Details

   A 6G-oriented end-to-end deep-learning framework (AMEF) for multi-user photonic-assisted fiber–mmWave integrated communications, comprising a multi-channel model (MCM) and a multi-user transceiver (MUT) with MLP-based encoder/decoder. A two-user 10 km fiber–mmWave experiment delivers 66 Gbps in the wireless-only system and 49.5 Gbps in the integrated fiber-wireless system, with >1.1 dB / >0.6 dB sensitivity gains over mCAP.

2. ACP

   

   Inverse design of a broadband and compact silicon three-mode multiplexer for on-chip optical interconnect with a 705 nm bandwidth

   A. Sun, X. Deng, S. Xing, et al.

   ACP 2024, 2024 · Beijing

   inverse designmode multiplexingoptical interconnectsilicon photonics

   Abs Proceedings Scholar Details

   An inverse-designed pixelated ultra-broadband three-mode multiplexer on SOI with a record 705 nm bandwidth, keeping insertion loss below 2.03 dB across the full 1458–2163 nm range (S+C+L+U telecom bands plus the 2 µm band). Footprint 6 × 4.8 µm², 100 nm minimum feature — to our knowledge the broadest-bandwidth mode MUX on SOI to date.

3. OECC

   

   An SOI-based ultra-compact dual-mode variable optical attenuator based on inverse design

   A. Sun, X. Deng, S. Xing, et al.

   IEEE OECC 2024, 2024 · Melbourne

   inverse designsilicon photonics

   Abs Proceedings Scholar Details

   An SOI ultra-compact dual-mode variable optical attenuator (DM-VOA) that uniformly attenuates the TE0 and TE1 modes. Built on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with the thermo-optic effect, the whole device is only 248 µm long (its inverse-designed dual-mode splitter just 6 µm). It achieves ~60 dB maximum attenuation for both modes at a total power of 30.7 mW.

2023

1. Opt. Express

   

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

   A. Sun, et al.

   Optics Express, 31(16), 2023 · First author

   inverse designwavelength demultiplexingsilicon photonics

   Abs DOI Scholar Details

   A series of ultra-compact dual-band wavelength-demultiplexing power splitters (WDPS) that perform wavelength demultiplexing and 1:1 power splitting simultaneously — for dual-band passive optical networks. Designed on standard SOI with a novel two-step direct binary search (TS-DBS), with the impact of optimization hyperparameters analysed in detail. A 130 nm-feature WDPS shrinks footprint 12.77× vs forward design; a 65 nm-feature WDPS reaches 0.36 / 0.37 dB insertion loss and −19.91 / −17.02 dB crosstalk at 1310 / 1550 nm.

2. AOPC Best Student Paper

   

   Inverse design of a dual-band wavelength demultiplexing power splitter based on two-step hybrid binary-analog optimization

   A. Sun, S. Xing, A. Yan, X. Deng, Z. Li, et al.

   SPIE · AOPC 2023 (AI in Optics & Photonics), 2023 · Beijing

   inverse designwavelength demultiplexing

   Abs Proceedings Scholar Details

   A dual-band wavelength-demultiplexing power splitter designed by a two-step hybrid binary-analog optimization, combining the efficiency of analog topology optimization with the fabrication robustness of a binarized digital metamaterial. (Best Student Paper, AOPC 2023.)

3. AOPC Best Student Paper

   

   Inverse design of a multifunctional MMI waveguide for simultaneous wavelength demultiplexing and power splitting

   A. Sun, X. Xiao, N. Chi, J. Zhang

   SPIE · AOPC 2022 (Optoelectronics & Nanophotonics), 2023

   inverse designwavelength demultiplexingsilicon photonics

   Abs Proceedings Scholar Details

   An inverse-designed multifunctional MMI waveguide that performs wavelength demultiplexing and power splitting at the same time — combining two functions into a single compact passive device. (Best Student Paper, AOPC 2022.)

2022

1. OGC Best Student Paper

   

   Silicon photonic integrated reservoir computing processor with ultra-high tunability for high-speed IM/DD equalization

   A. Sun, A. Yan, P. Luo, J. Zhang, N. Chi

   IEEE OGC 2022, 2022 · Shenzhen

   photonic computingdeep learningsilicon photonics

   Abs Proceedings Scholar Details

   An SOI-based photonic integrated reservoir-computing processor (PIRCP) with two recurrent nodes and ultra-high tunability — phase, amplitude, delay and detuning all reconfigurable for parameter sweeps. Used to equalise 56 GBaud PAM-4 over 60 km SSMF in the C band: BER below the SD-FEC threshold at 112 Gbps/λ with ROP = −15 dBm, a 5 dBm improvement over non-RC schemes.