Colloquium Series - Invited Seminar by James CLEGG

Thursday 16 Apr 2026, 15:00 → 16:00 Europe/Zurich

"Analog Optical Computing at Microsoft Research UK: Improving Efficiency in the AI Era"

by James CLEGG  

(Principal Optical Scientist at Microsoft Research Lab – Cambridge, UK)

A B S T R A C T: The exponential growth of artificial intelligence workloads has intensified the demand for energy-efficient and high-speed computing solutions. Analog optical computing offers a promising alternative to conventional digital architectures by leveraging the inherent parallelism and speed of light for matrix operations and signal processing. In this work, we present recent advances at Microsoft Research UK in analog optical computing, focusing on system architectures, precision control, and integration with existing AI frameworks. Our results demonstrate significant improvements in computational efficiency and power reduction for large-scale neural network inference, highlighting the potential of optical accelerators to complement digital processors in the AI era.

 

Poster_James_Clegg.pdf

recording.mp4

15:00 → 15:40 Analog Optical Computing at Microsoft Research UK: Improving Efficiency in the AI Era

20260414 CERN JHC.pdf

15:40 → 16:00 Q&A : Discussion