Emmanouil Kokkinakis is a physicist and Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Physics of the University of Crete and the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser of FORTH, working under the joint supervision of Professors Konstantinos G. Makris and Eleftherios N. Economou. He received his B.Sc. in Physics and his M.Sc. in Photonics and Nanoelectronics from the University of Crete in 2022 and 2024, respectively. To date, he has authored several articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals and has presented his work at international conferences. His research lies at the crossroads of complex photonics, condensed-matter physics, and nonlinear wave physics, focusing on how light behaves in structured photonic systems where optical gain and loss coexist with disorder or nonlinear effects. By exploring these systems, his work aims to uncover new physical mechanisms for controlling wave propagation, localization, and power flow in complex photonic environments.

As a Fulbright Visiting Research Student at the University of Southern California, he will join Professor Demetrios N. Christodoulides’ group to study how the complex dynamics of nonlinear multimode optical systems can be understood and ultimately controlled, within the emerging research field of optical thermodynamics. This direction is motivated by a central challenge in high-power photonics: as optical power increases, conventional single-mode platforms reach fundamental limitations, while multimode systems offer new possibilities but remain difficult to harness because of their highly complex dynamics. Building on his background in non-Hermitian photonics, his six-month project will investigate the thermalization properties of engineered amplifying photonic systems, with the aim of identifying principles that could support future architectures for robust high-power lasers. A second direction will focus on coherent beam combining, namely the merging of multiple laser outputs into a single bright beam. Instead of relying on fragile external phase-locking schemes, the project will explore whether nonlinear thermalization can be engineered to naturally drive optical power toward desired modes, exploiting chaos and complexity as a route to order. Through this research, he aims to connect fundamental science with practical strategies for controlling light in emerging photonic technologies.