Here is a PDF version of a presentation on my work and the ultrafast field. Reif Faulkner and I are working on a project which will develop a neural network that can calculate the appropriate phase mask to produce a train of pulses representing bits in ultrafast communication.
Neural networks are a form of artificial intelligence.
In a brain, synapses are connected in such a way as to add up signals from various sources. Depending on the sum of the signals, various thresholds are reached and a response is calculated. After each new exposure, the brain changes the weights that each input receives before being added up for the sum. In the same way, in an artificial neural network, we expose our program to a pattern for which we know the correct result and we change our weights accordingly. In the analogy of the baby and a smiling face, after the baby sees a few examples of smiles, he can figure out if a stranger is smiling even though he 's never seen the stranger's face before.