Max Zhang
I study Honours Physics and Computer Science at McGill and research silicon photonics and high-speed optical links in Prof. David Plant's Photonic Systems Group. In summer 2026 I interned in photonic validation at NVIDIA. I also build software under wrkrsh.
Research projects and contributions
packreadout (2026)
Transformer-inspired DSP (2025–)
Deep learning models for IMDD and coherent optical signal equalization. CNN encoder with transformer attention for PAM and QAM symbol recovery, implemented on Ciena WaveLogic 5e and compared to standard DSP.
High-speed transmission (2025–)
Measured 448G and 224G PAM4 and 800G coherent transmission on 80+ GHz Keysight AWGs, RTOs and DCAs. IEEE IMDD and coherent compliance testing for industry partners: TDECQ, OMA/ER, BER, EVM, channel skew and FFE/DFE optimization.
Optical computing (2024–)
photorch
Photonic circuit simulation framework using PyTorch. DAG-based signal propagation.
complex-res-net
Complex-valued neural networks. Implemented complex VGG16 in PyTorch and MLX that are ready to implement on cascaded IQMs.
Cascaded IQM simulations
Cascaded IQM and MZM simulation for real and complex-valued optical matrix-vector multiplication.
MatTorch
Re-implementation of basic PyTorch features in MATLAB.
Ising Annealing
Simulated and helped implement optical Ising model annealing using cascaded MZMs. arXiv
Ericsson collaboration
Tested the polarization compensating capacity of a device designed at Prof. David Plant's group, and designed and compared five compensation algorithms. Ran 200G compliance measurements on the device's silicon photonic modulator.
Device simulation
FDTD device simulations in Tidy3D and Lumerical, circuit simulation in Interconnect and VPIphotonics.
DC Characterization
Performed DC sweeps on HyperLight's IQM in order to measure the extinction ratio. Characterized high power semiconductor lasers.
Products
Yeecell
A native photonic layout editor. wrkrsh.com
Turbotex
A LaTeX editor with nothing left to install. turbotex.app
Crossroads
Typed decisions from small language models. smallmodelslab.ai
msync
Let your agents talk to each other. msync.sh
Manager
A task board and remote control for coding agents on your computers. wrkrsh.com
Multidesktop
Reach your computers from a browser or an agent. multidesktop.cloud
ProcessControl
Every pull request, tested by an agent on a real operating system. processcontrol.dev
Tutor
Study beside the live note on your iPad or a PDF. wrkrsh.com
Langlang
Word-based language learning apps weren't cutting it for me. I wanted to learn only how to put them together. Langlang is one of the things I think LLMs might be good for. langlang.app
Farlang
An AI you can text. farlang.ai
Nori
A Chromium browser with a scrolling, tiling workspace. Source
Earlier apps
applaud (2025)
A productivity-focused social media app.
meteon (2025)
Automated platform for onboarding tenants, performing background checks, collecting rent, managing maintenance requests and lease renewals.
charter (2025)
Dental video annotation platform with AI-powered auto-charting.
ball3
My first ever real programming project. A 2D basketball game.
Personal projects
geo-bench (2026)
An LLM benchmark for different model's capabilities to setup simulation geometries in Tidy3d.
flashcards (2025)
Study app with Monaco code editor. Built with SvelteKit and Convex.
codecrafters-shell (2025)
POSIX shell implementation in C.
SiEPIC-Tools
Contributor to SiEPIC-Tools, the KLayout toolkit for silicon photonic layout.
1893 World Expo replica (2024)
Built an RC boat and a scale model replica of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition from scratch, 3D printing every part.
micrograd (2023)
Recreated Karpathy's micrograd as a learning experience.
mycroft (2016)
Built a voice assistant on a Raspberry Pi using mycroft.
Publications
2025
A. Nikic*, W. Li*, C. St-Arnault, S. Bernal, B. Qiu, E. Berikaa, L. Xu, K. Zhang, Y. Hu, J. Zhang, Z. Wei, M. Zhang, I. Plant, A. Bigongiari, F. Cavaliere, A. D'Errico, L. Giorgi, S. Lessard, R. Sabella, S. Stracca, and D. V. Plant. "A WDM Capable SiP Polarization Compensator That Isolates the Carrier Laser." Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 43, no. 18, Sep. 2025. doi:10.1109/JLT.2025.3588315
2025
A. Nikic*, W. Li*, C. St-Arnault, S. Bernal, B. Qiu, E. Berikaa, L. Xu, K. Zhang, Y. Hu, J. Zhang, Z. Wei, M. Zhang, I. Plant, A. Bigongiari, F. Cavaliere, A. D'Errico, L. Giorgi, S. Lessard, R. Sabella, S. Stracca, and D. V. Plant. "A WDM Capable SiP Polarization Compensator That Isolates the Carrier Laser." Optical Fiber Communication Conference (OFC), 2025. Top-scored paper. (conference version of JLT paper)
2026
A. Nikic, W. Li, C. St-Arnault, S. Bernal, B. Qiu, D. Mao, E. Berikaa, K. Zhang, C. Nacke, L. Xu, M. Zhang, I. Plant, A. Bigongiari, F. Cavaliere, A. D'Errico, L. Giorgi, S. Lessard, R. Sabella, S. Stracca, and D. V. Plant. "Ultra-Low Loss Compact SiP Polarization Compensator for CPO with an ELS." Optical Fiber Communication Conference (OFC), paper Th3C.5, 2026.
2026
W. Li, A. Nikic, C. St-Arnault, S. Bernal, B. Qiu, D. Mao, E. Berikaa, K. Zhang, C. Nacke, L. Xu, M. Zhang, I. Plant, A. Bigongiari, F. Cavaliere, A. D'Errico, L. Giorgi, S. Lessard, R. Sabella, S. Stracca, and D. V. Plant. "Compact High-Speed Silicon Photonic Polarization Compensator." Journal of Lightwave Technology, 2026. (under review)
2026
B. Qiu, C. St-Arnault, J. Cauchon, C. Laperle, C. Minkenberg, T. Kornher, P. Stark, W. Diels, S. Abel, M. Zhang, L. Czornomaz, X. Chen, F. Pelletier, B. Beggs, N. Ben-Hamida, F. Eltes, and D. V. Plant. "A High-Speed Barium Titanate Enhanced Silicon Photonics Platform." Journal of Lightwave Technology, 2026. (accepted) doi:10.1109/JLT.2026.3741404
2026
B. Qiu, S. T. Le, D. Assumpcao, M. Zhang, C. St-Arnault, C. Laperle, C. Hamilton, and D. V. Plant. "Polarization Insensitive Direct Detection for Co-Packaged Optical Links." IEEE Photonics Conference (IPC), post-deadline paper, 2026. (submitted)
Timeline
2026
Photonic Validation Engineering Intern, Mixed Signal
Design
NVIDIA, Santa Clara
2025–
B.Sc. Honours Physics and Computer Science
McGill University, GPA 3.97
2025
CMC SiEPIC Silicon Photonics Workshop
Designed passive and active photonic circuits (rings, MMIs, MZIs,
phase shifters, photodiodes) for AMF fabrication.
Link.
First attendee before starting an undergraduate degree, and recipient
of the first Young Researcher Award.
2023–
Research internship under Prof. David Plant
Photonic Systems Group, McGill University. Received the group's
Research Excellence Award in 2025.
2023–25
CEGEP
Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, R-score 39.0
2022
Took AP Calculus AB, AP Physics I and AP Computer Science Principles on my own. Reused some previously developed game for AP CSP.
2020–22
Developed two more games in the meantime, never published.
2020
Released my first game on the App Store—got taken down by Apple because I didn't pay the developer license.
2018–24
Competitive basketball with coach John Dangelas under the Collège Notre-Dame and Team Helisis banners. Won the Work ethic and Leadership Award.
2018–23
Secondary education
Collège Notre-Dame
2016
My brother and I built my first computer, on which I learned some basic machine learning (Scikit-learn, TensorFlow) and built a voice assistant using mycroft.
2014
Received my first phone. It was an OEM-locked Chinese phone, so I had to flash a new OS to bypass the Google block to have access to YouTube.