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International School on Physical Computing (ISOPC)

International School on Physical Computing (ISOPC)

2nd Workshop: Metaphotonics and Optical Neural Networks

27 − 30 August 2026

Hero Image Hero Image Hero Image © Antonio Calà Lesina/PhoenixD
View from the conference venue (Erice, Italy).

Photonics is emerging as a powerful platform for high-speed, low-energy computation, offering new opportunities for accelerating machine-learning tasks. This workshop focuses on the intersection of meta-photonics and optical neural networks, highlighting how engineered optical (meta)materials, optical fibers, and integrated photonic platforms enable advanced light processing capabilities and novel computational architectures. In particular, meta-photonic systems provide compact, programmable control over amplitude, phase, polarization, and spatio-temporal properties of light, enabling complex analog operations performed directly at the speed of light. 

The program will explore recent advances, key challenges, and future directions in optical computing, photonic and neuromorphic neural networks, and reconfigurable meta-photonic systems across diverse platforms, including fiber-based, free-space, and on-chip photonics. Through expert talks, interactive discussions, and student engagement, participants will gain insight into how metasurfaces, metamaterials, and programmable photonic devices can enhance learning, inference, and adaptability in optical neural networks. 

Open to students and researchers from diverse disciplines, the workshop fosters collaboration and innovation at the interface of photonics, metamaterials, and artificial intelligence.

Covered Topics

  • Novel Fabrication Techniques for Metaphotonics
  • Integrated Metaphotonics
  • Inverse Design, Machine Learning, and Optimization for Nanophotonics
  • Metasurfaces and Metamaterials
  • Neuromorphic Photonics
  • Reservoir Computing
  • Optical Computing
  • Photonic Neural Networks
     

Important Dates

Deadline for Abstract Submission

31 May 2026

Arrival Day

26 August 2026

Workshop Dates

27 to 30 August 2026

Departure Day

31 August 2026

Registration and Schedule

Further details, including registration, abstract submission, the detailed program, and further information on travel, accommodation, and organization, are available on the event page.
Registration & Information

Further Information

  • Workshop Fee

    The workshop fee for participants is €825, which includes accommodation, all meals, and airport transfers (to and from the airport). Invited speakers are charged €165 per day (all-inclusive) and only for the days they stay at the Ettore Majorana Centre (EMFCSC).

  • Travel and Accommodation
    • Reaching Erice is straightforward, as all transfers to and from the airport will be arranged by the Majorana Centre. Please note that transfers are provided exclusively from Palermo and Trapani airports. It is very important that your registration includes your arrival and departure details.
    • A free wireless connection is available in various areas of the Majorana Centre.
    • Erice is located 800 meters above sea level, making it cooler than coastal areas. The temperature can vary throughout the day and weather conditions can differ from coastal Sicily.
    • Participants need no formal dress at any event, including the banquet.
    Smoking is forbidden

    Smoking is forbidden in all the facilities of the workshop venue Ettore Majorana Centre (San Rocco, San Domenico, San Francesco), including rooms. Likewise, restaurants in Erice are all no-smoking.
     

For further inquiries regarding the school, participation, or organizational matters, please contact us.
Contact

Conference Venue

Image Image Image © Antonio Calà Lesina/PhoenixD

Via Gian Filippo Guarnotti, 26  
91016 Erice TP, Italy

Tel.: +39 012 345678

Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture
Open directions in Google Maps

About the School

The International School on Physical Computing (ISOPC) is a permanent school of the Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture in Erice, Italy. Launched as a workshop in 2022, ISOPC has evolved into a permanent school since 2025 under the direction of Prof. Antonio Calà Lesina (Leibniz University Hannover) and Prof. Wolfram Pernice (Heidelberg University).

Some of the challenges humanity is facing cannot be solved even by the fastest supercomputer on earth, and there is a growing demand for novel computing approaches. Physical Computing, in our definition, is the vision to employ physics itself for advanced information processing beyond what is possible today with analog and digital computing systems. Our school is driven by the vision that physical concepts, functional materials, and devices could be used to run computations directly in a material, in contrast to using logic gates as used in electronic systems. Prominent examples are neuromorphic computing with brain-inspired hardware, quantum computation in many-body systems, complex photonic integrated systems, and optical metamaterial hardware for implementing mathematical operations and advanced light processing.

To the ISOPC page at the Majorana Centre
Image Image Image

Past Events

2025
2022

School and Workshop Directors

Contact Image Contact Image
Prof. Dr. Antonio Calà Lesina
Leibniz Universität Hannover
Phone
+49 511 762 16408
E-Mail
antonio.calalesinahot.uni-hannover.de
Address
Leibniz University Hannover
Cluster of Excellence PhoenixD
Welfengarten 1A
30167 Hannover
Contact Image Contact Image
Prof. Dr. Antonio Calà Lesina
Leibniz Universität Hannover
Phone
+49 511 762 16408
E-Mail
antonio.calalesinahot.uni-hannover.de
Address
Leibniz University Hannover
Cluster of Excellence PhoenixD
Welfengarten 1A
30167 Hannover
Contact Image Contact Image © Tobias Schwerdt
Prof. Dr. Wolfram Pernice
Universität Heidelberg
Phone
+49 6221 54-9831
E-Mail
wolfram.pernicekip.uni-heidelberg.de
Address
Heidelberg University
Kirchhoff-Institute for Physics
Im Neuenheimer Feld 227
69120 Heidelberg
Contact Image Contact Image © Tobias Schwerdt
Prof. Dr. Wolfram Pernice
Universität Heidelberg
Phone
+49 6221 54-9831
E-Mail
wolfram.pernicekip.uni-heidelberg.de
Address
Heidelberg University
Kirchhoff-Institute for Physics
Im Neuenheimer Feld 227
69120 Heidelberg
Profilbild von Prof. Dr. Birgit Stiller Profilbild von Prof. Dr. Birgit Stiller © Stephan Spangenberg
Prof. Dr. Birgit Stiller
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, and Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany
E-Mail
birgit.stilleriop.uni-hannover.de
Address
Leibniz University Hannover
Cluster of Excellence PhoenixD
Welfengarten 1A
30167 Hannover
Profilbild von Prof. Dr. Birgit Stiller Profilbild von Prof. Dr. Birgit Stiller © Stephan Spangenberg
Prof. Dr. Birgit Stiller
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, and Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany
E-Mail
birgit.stilleriop.uni-hannover.de
Address
Leibniz University Hannover
Cluster of Excellence PhoenixD
Welfengarten 1A
30167 Hannover

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