About me

Hello! I’m Mahmoud Jalali Mehrabad, a Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where I am part of the Quantum Photonic & AI Group. My research develops integrated photonic devices that bridge fundamental physics with scalable technologies for nonlinear photonics, quantum systems, and AI-augmented hardware.

I received my PhD in quantum optics as a University Prize Scholarship Fellow from the University of Sheffield, UK, in 2021, under the supervision of Profs. Maurice Skolnick (FRS), Mark Fox, and Luke Wilson, where my work on semiconductor topological quantum photonic integrated circuits was recognized with the UK’s Rank Prize Award. I subsequently joined the Joint Quantum Institute at the University of Maryland (2022–2025) as a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Mohammad Hafezi’s lab, before continuing my research at MIT.

You can read more about my current projects on the Research page and find an up-to-date list of my publications on the Publications page.

Two-dimensional topological lattice of coupled nonlinear microring resonators — the architecture underlying our work on topological frequency combs (Science 384, 1356–1361, 2024) and multi-timescale frequency-phase matching for high-yield nonlinear photonics (Science 390, 612–616, 2025).

Research interests

• Multiscale nonlinear photonic devices — frequency-phase matching architectures, integrated frequency combs, and harmonic generation across silicon nitride and thin-film lithium niobate
• Topological & chiral photonics — robust photonic circuits for quantum and classical light, with directional light–matter interfaces using solid-state quantum emitters
• Quantum optoelectronics in 2D materials — strong light–matter coupling, exciton transport, and engineered optical landscapes in moiré and few-layer systems
• AI-augmented photonic design — inverse design, digital-twin calibration, and machine-learning workflows for nonlinear and quantum photonic device discovery

Education

• Ph.D. in Quantum Optics, University of Sheffield, UK (2017–2021)

Awards and recognition

• UM Ventures Outstanding Invention of 2025 — TOPAI: Topological Photonics Architecture for Optical Computing and AI
• UK Rank Prize Award (2021) — Semiconductor topological quantum photonic integrated circuits

Selected Service & Outreach

• Discovery Night “Quantum Light” (2018)
• Cheltenham Science Festival “Communication with Light” (2019)
• Facilitator, Research Professionalism/Integrity training (2021)

Single microring resonator coupled to a bus waveguide — the fundamental building block of the lattice architectures above, where nonlinear processes such as four-wave mixing and Kerr-soliton frequency-comb formation take place.