Sai Kanth Dacha

Sai Kanth Dacha is a 2026 Optica Ambassador and Postdoctoral Research Scientist in Alexander Gaeta's research group in the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics at Columbia University. His current research interests include nonlinear photonics, integrated thermometry, optical frequency combs, and chip-based classical and quantum metrology.

Dr. Dacha obtained his Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Maryland, College Park, in 2022, where his dissertation research in Thomas Murphy's lab investigated spatiotemporal nonlinear optical effects in multimode fibers. During his Ph.D., he also worked with René-Jean Essiambre at Nokia Bell Labs on photon-efficient optical communication for deep space. He received his B.Tech. in Engineering Physics at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras in 2016. A Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship at Caltech's LIGO Laboratory first drew him to optics research over ten years ago.

Dr. Dacha was the recipient of the University of Maryland's Dean's Fellowship. He has co-authored several conference proceedings and peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Nature Photonics, Optica, and Physical Review Research, and is a co-inventor on two pending U.S. patents. Alongside serving as a referee for nearly ten peer-reviewed journals, he maintains an active interest in science communication and policy. He has written for Medium publications and served on Optica Congressional delegations advocating for federal research funding. As a 2026 Optica Ambassador, he leverages this background to host events and webinars helping students and early-career researchers become effective communicators of their science. He recently co-organized PANYC 2026, a regional conference for New York City-area students and postdocs working in atomic and optical physics.