Controlling light in complex photonic systems is one of the central challenges in the development of next-generation optical technologies. In recent years, concepts from topology and statistical physics have opened new avenues for understanding and engineering light beyond the limits of conventional photonics. In this talk, I will present recent advances in topological photonics, highlighting how topological protection enables robust light transport and resilient photonic functionalities. I will then introduce the emerging framework of optical thermodynamics, which applies concepts such as temperature, entropy, and phase transitions to describe the collective dynamics of nonlinear multimode optical systems. Finally, I will discuss recent experimental demonstrations of thermodynamic phenomena in photonic systems and show how statistical mechanics provides new insights into controlling light in increasingly complex photonic platforms.

About the speaker: Pawel Jung is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Miami, where he leads a research program in nonlinear and quantum photonics. He earned his Ph.D. in Physics from the Warsaw University of Technology before moving to the United States in 2018 to join the College of Optics and Photonics (CREOL) at the University of Central Florida. At CREOL, he was a member of the Nonlinear Guided-Wave and Nonlinear Optics Groups and served as a Scholar Instructor, teaching graduate courses in optical fiber communications and nonlinear guided-wave optics. His research spans nonlinear, topological, non-Hermitian, and quantum photonics, as well as optical thermodynamics, combining theoretical and experimental approaches to uncover new physical phenomena and translate them into next-generation photonic technologies.