Department of Physics, Engineering Physics & Astronomy

Degree:

PhD (McGill University)

Research Interests:

We have broad research interests in silicon photonics, nanophotonics, photonic integrated circuits, and neuromorphic computing. Our research follows an interdisciplinary approach to address grand engineering challenges with fundamental physical insights. Recently, we have been designing and building programmable nanophotonic processors with applications to scientific computing (deep learning and nonlinear programming) and the study of complex systems. Please visit Shastri Lab to find out more.

Lab Website:

https://www.queensu.ca/physics/shastrilab/

Honours and Awards (Selected):

• Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship, Government of Canada, NSERC (2014–2016)
• IEEE Photonics Conference Student Paper Award (2014)
• D. W. Ambridge Prize, McGill University (2012)
• IEEE Photonics Society Graduate Student Fellowship (2011)
• NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship (2011–2013)
• SPIE Scholarship in Optics and Photonics (2011)
• IEEE Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems (MWSCAS) Best Student Paper Award (2010)
• IEEE Microsystems and Nanoelectronics Research Conference (MNRC) Silver Leaf Certificate (2008)
• IEEE Lance Stafford Larson Outstanding Student Award, IEEE Computer Society (2004)
• IEEE Life Member Award, IEEE Canada (2003)

Selected Publications:

• P. R. Prucnal and B. J. Shastri, Neuromorphic Photonics, CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton, Florida (2017).
• B. J. Shastri, A. N. Tait, T. Ferreira de Lima, M. A. Nahmias, and P. R. Prucnal, “Principles of neuromorphic photonics,” in Encyclopedia of Complexity and System Science, R. A. Meyers, Ed. Springer Berlin Heidelberg (2018). 
• [Invited] H.-T. Peng, M. A. Nahmias, T. Ferreira de Lima, A. N. Tait, B. J. Shastri, P. R. Prucnal, “Neuromorphic photonic integrated circuits,” IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quant. Electron. 24, 6101715 (2018).
• [Invited] M. A. Nahmias, B. J. Shastri, A. N. Tait, T. Ferreira de Lima, and P. R. Prucnal,“Neuromorphic photonics,” Opt. Photon. News 29, 34–41 (2018). 
• A. N. Tait, T. Ferreira de Lima, E. Zhou, A. X. Wu, M. A. Nahmias, B. J. Shastri, and P. R. Prucnal, “Neuromorphic photonic networks using silicon photonic weight banks,” Nature Sci. Rep. 7, 7430 (2017). 
• [Review] T. Ferreira de Lima, B. J. Shastri, A. N. Tait, M. A. Nahmias, and P. R. Prucnal, “Progress in neuromorphic photonics,” Nanophotonics 6, 577–599, (2017).
• A. N. Tait, A. X, Wu, T. Ferreira de Lima, E. Zhou, M. A. Nahmias, B. J. Shastri, and P. R. Prucnal, “Microring weight banks,” IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quant. Electron. 22, 5900214 (2016). 
• [Review] P. R. Prucnal*, B. J. Shastri*, T. Ferreira de Lima, M. A. Nahmias, and A. N. Tait, “Recent progress in semiconductor excitable lasers for photonic spike processing,” Adv. Opt. Photon. 8, 228–299 (2016). [*equal contribution]
• B. J. Shastri*, M. A. Nahmias*, A. N. Tait*, A. W. Rodriguez, B. Wu, and P. R. Prucnal, “Spike processing with a graphene excitable laser,” Nature Sci. Rep. 6, 19126 (2016). [*equal contribution] 
• A. N. Tait, M. A. Nahmias, B. J. Shastri, and P. R. Prucnal, “Broadcast and weight: an integrated network for scalable photonic spike processing,” J. Lightwave Technol. 32, 3427–3439 (2014). 
• M. A. Nahmias, B. J. Shastri, A. N. Tait, and P. R. Prucnal, “A leaky integrate-and-fire laser neuron for ultrafast cognitive computing,” IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quant. Electron. 19, 1800212 (2013).