# Darius Bunandar

> Darius Bunandar is a co-founder and chief scientist of Lightmatter, where he directs research into photonic computing and 3D optical interconnects for AI systems. His path runs from dual physics and mechanical-engineering degrees at the University of Texas at Austin, through blast-effects engineering and black-hole visualization, to an MIT physics doctorate in quantum communication using nanophotonic circuits. He co-founded Lightmatter with Nicholas Harris and Thomas Graham after work in MIT's quantum photonics lab; the team won the 2017 MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition. Bunandar now focuses on the bottleneck between AI chips: moving data with greater bandwidth and lower energy through silicon photonics.

- **Role:** Co-founder and Chief Scientist at Lightmatter
- **Organizations:** Lightmatter, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Caltech-Cornell Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes collaboration, Sandia National Laboratories, BakerRisk, University of Texas at Austin, University of Würzburg
- **Education:** PhD in Physics; research on quantum cryptography and communication with nanophotonic circuits, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, BS in Physics and BS in Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin
- **Known for:** Co-founded Lightmatter, an MIT spinout developing photonic infrastructure for AI., Won the 2017 MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition with the Lightmatter founding team., Holds more than 50 patents and has authored more than 40 multidisciplinary journal articles, according to his 2026 conference biography.

## Career timeline

- **2010** — Worked as a research assistant at the University of Würzburg.
- **2011** — Worked as a blast-effects co-op engineer at BakerRisk, performing large-scale experiments and simulating explosions.
- **2012-2013** — Contributed visualization software to the Caltech-Cornell Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes collaboration.
- **2013** — Completed bachelor's degrees in physics and mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and began doctoral study at MIT.
- **2016** — Interned at Sandia National Laboratories.
- **2017** — Co-founded Lightmatter with Nicholas Harris and Thomas Graham; their team won the $100,000 grand prize in the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition.
- **2019** — Completed a PhD in physics at MIT under Dirk Englund, focused on quantum communication using compact nanophotonic circuits.
- **2024** — Named No. 30 on the Boston Globe's Tech Power Players 50; co-authored research on the carbon footprint of photonic computing.
- **2025** — Presented Passage M1000, a 3D photonic interposer for AI, at Hot Chips and published a technical article on a 16-wavelength bidirectional single-fiber link.
- **2026** — Presented on photonics for AI information processing at ECOC and was scheduled to address photonic interconnect efficiency at SEMICON West.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Lightmatter, an MIT spinout developing photonic infrastructure for AI.
- Won the 2017 MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition with the Lightmatter founding team.
- Holds more than 50 patents and has authored more than 40 multidisciplinary journal articles, according to his 2026 conference biography.
- Co-authored the metropolitan quantum key distribution study that reported 157 kbps secret-key generation over a 43 km intercity fiber test in its 2018 published version.
- Co-authored work on an electro-photonic deep-learning system and on the sustainability of photonic computing.
- Named No. 30 in the Boston Globe's 2024 Tech Power Players 50.
- Presented Lightmatter's Passage M1000 3D photonic interposer at Hot Chips 2025.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Presented 'Photonics for AI Information Processing: Interconnect and Memory Bandwidth Before Computation' at the ECOC 2026 programmable-photonics symposium.
- **2026-06** — Listed as co-inventor on a granted US patent covering an LED-based photonic communication and processing unit.
- **2026-01** — Joined a Photonics West panel on co-packaged optics and the next wave of data infrastructure.
- **2025-09** — Co-authored a Nature Photonics News & Views article on quantum photonic machine learning.
- **2025-08** — Presented Passage M1000 at Hot Chips and published Lightmatter's account of a 16-wavelength bidirectional link over a single fiber.

## Links

- Website: https://lightmatter.co/person/darius-bunandar/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darius-bunandar-966408137
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/lightmatterco
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LightmatterInc
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/lightmatterco

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/darius-bunandar
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-27