QuantLase Research & Development Center (QRDC), the research and development arm of International Holding Company (IHC), participated in PIC Summit Europe 2026, held in Eindhoven, Netherlands, on 3–4 November, joining the international photonic integrated circuit (PIC) community to explore emerging technologies, industry developments and opportunities for collaboration.
Representing QRDC at the summit were Dr. Pramod Kumar, Director of Research; Dr. Salman Abdullah, Product Director; and Deepanshu Baisoya, Lead PIPU Engineer. The event provided an important platform for QRDC to introduce its work in photonic intelligence, integrated optical computing and next-generation photonic technologies to the wider European photonics ecosystem.
Advancing Photonic Intelligence
Central to QRDC's participation was its Photonic Intelligence Processing Unit (PIPU), an emerging computing platform exploring how the physical properties of light—including interference, coherence, nonlinear dynamics and optical feedback—can be harnessed for computational intelligence. Unlike conventional computing architectures that primarily rely on electronic processing, PIPU investigates the potential of optical physical systems to perform computational tasks through the dynamics of light itself. QRDC's development programme brings together experimental optical computing, photonic integrated circuit design and system-level engineering, with a longer-term vision of translating laboratory-scale photonic intelligence into compact, integrated hardware platforms.
From Optical Research to Photonic Hardware
An important focus of QRDC's technology roadmap is the transition from optical laboratory demonstrations towards integrated photonic processing. This includes the development of silicon photonic matrix multiplication architectures based on Mach–Zehnder interferometer networks, together with associated optical input, control, detection and packaging technologies. These developments form part of QRDC's broader ambition to investigate scalable photonic hardware for future intelligent computing applications. Alongside PIPU, QRDC's wider research portfolio includes quantum random number generation (QRNG), quantum key distribution (QKD) and other emerging photonic technologies.
Connecting with the European Photonics Ecosystem
PIC Summit Europe brought together stakeholders across photonic chip design, semiconductor fabrication, packaging, testing, research and industrial applications. For QRDC, participation offered an opportunity to exchange technical perspectives, understand developments across the PIC supply chain and explore potential avenues for collaboration supporting the industrialisation of photonic technologies. The summit also reinforced the importance of connecting advanced research with practical engineering capabilities, from device design and fabrication to packaging, system integration and eventual deployment.
Building the Next Generation of Photonic Technologies
QRDC's participation reflects its continued commitment to developing advanced photonic technologies in the UAE while engaging with the international scientific and industrial community. By combining fundamental research, experimental validation and product-oriented engineering, QRDC aims to contribute to the evolution of photonic computing and integrated optical technologies.
PIC Summit Europe 2026 marked another opportunity for QRDC to share its vision of photonic intelligence and strengthen its engagement with the global photonics community.