Adam McCaughan

Adam McCaughan is a staff scientist at NIST in Boulder, CO. His current research is on megapixel-class single-photon cameras, algorithms for hardware neural networks, and neuromorphic systems. He received his PhD from MIT under Prof. Karl Berggren, where he first studied superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors and where he was awarded the Jin Au Kong Award for outstanding PhD thesis. Recently he was named a Nancy Grace Roman Technology Fellow by NASA for his work on superconducting-nanowire single-photon detector arrays.

Awards

NASA Nancy Grace Roman Technology Fellowship - 2019
NRC Postdoctoral Research Associateship - 2016
MIT EECS Jin Au Kong Outstanding Thesis Award - 2016
NSF Fellowship - 2013
NSF IQuISE Graduate Research Fellowship - 2010

Publications

Analog end-to-end adaptive training with locally-updated physical gradients on integrated photonic platform

June 22, 2025

Author(s)

Zhimu Guo, Aadhi A, Adam McCaughan, Nathan Youngblood, Alexander Tait, Sonia Buckley, Bhavin Shastri

Gradient Descent in Recurrent Neural Networks with Model-Free Multiplexed Gradient Descent: Toward Temporal On-Chip Neuromorphic Learning

June 12, 2025

Author(s)

Ryan O'Loughlin, Nicholas Skuda, Bakhrom Oripov, Sonia Buckley, Adam McCaughan

The brain implements recurrent neural networks (RNNs) efficiently, and modern computing hardware does not. Although specialized neuromorphic hardware is well

Photonic Online Learning

January 9, 2024

Author(s)

Sonia Buckley, Adam McCaughan, Bakhrom Oripov

Training in machine learning necessarily involves more operations than inference only, with higher precision, more memory, and added computational complexity

Integration of vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes with superconducting nanowire single photon detectors

November 27, 2023

Author(s)

Dana Rampini, Chris Yung, Bakhrom Oripov, Solomon I. Woods, John H. Lehman, Sae Woo Nam, Adam McCaughan

We report on initial fabrication efforts in the integration of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) with vertically aligned carbon

A superconducting nanowire single-photon camera with 400,000 pixels

October 25, 2023

Author(s)

Bakhrom Oripov, Dana Rampini, Jason Allmaras, Matt Shaw, Sae Woo Nam, Boris Korzh, Adam McCaughan

For the past 50 years, superconducting detectors have offered exceptional sensitivity and speed for detecting faint electromagnetic signals in a wide range of

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Patents (2018-Present)

Thermally Coupled Imager for Performing Time and Position Sensitive Imaging of Single Photons

NIST Inventors

Adam McCaughan and Varun Verma

A SNSPD imager which will be capable of reading out at least tens of thousands of detectors. This array, the SNSPD "thermally-coupled imager" (TCI) efficiently multiplexes SNSPDs on a single readout line and is capable of resolving both location and time-of-arrival of single photons over a large {>

Diagram showing the circuit for resetting the Spectral Power Distribution (SPD) after the Light Emitting Diode (LED) has emitted a photonic pulse.

Superconducting Opto-Electronic Transmitter Circuit

NIST Inventors

Sonia Buckley , Adam McCaughan and Jeff Shainline

This invention describes a family of circuits that receive an input current or voltage pulse when a superconducting element has been driven above threshold, producing an amplified current or voltage pulse to drive a light source, and reset to the resting state after light has been generated.

System And Method For Parameter Multiplexed Gradient Descent

NIST Inventors

Adam McCaughan , Sonia Buckley and Andrew Dienstfrey

Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems and model-free methods for perturbing neural network hardware parameters and measure the neural network response that are implemented natively within the neural network hardware and without requiring a knowledge of the internal structure of the

Josephson Junction Circuits For Single-Photon Optoelectronic Neurons And Synapses

NIST Inventors

Jeff Shainline , Adam McCaughan and Manuel Castellanos Beltran

Single-photon optoelectronic neurons convert the optical signals of single photons to the electrical domain where summing and thresholding operations are performed. In these circuits, the photonic signals are converted to an electronic signal using a superconducting single-photon detector in

Thermal Impedance Amplifier

NIST Inventors

Adam McCaughan , Varun Verma and Sonia Buckley

A thermal impedance amplifier includes: a resistive layer including: a resistance member; a first electrode in electrical communication with the resistance member; and a second electrode in electrical communication with the resistance member; a switch layer opposing the resistive layer and including

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Adam McCaughan (Fed)

Awards

Publications

Patents (2018-Present)