Claudio Conti is Professor of Physics at the Sapienza University of Rome and has published over 250 research articles on topics including complexity, photonic systems, and machine learning. He is the author of the book Quantum Machine Learning (2024).

'Claudio Conti has accomplished something genuinely rare: a coherent, rigorous bridge between modern photonics and the statistical mechanics of disordered systems. Tracing a path from black-body radiation through random lasers and replica symmetry breaking to coherent Ising machines, the book illuminates how light has become both a testbed for spin glass theory and a platform for the next generation of computing hardware. It will be invaluable to graduate students and researchers seeking entry into one of the most exciting interdisciplinary frontiers in physics today.' Riccardo Sapienza, Imperial College London

• Part I. Light and Fluids: 1. From Max Planck to Machine Learning; 2. Elements of Linear Optics; 3. Green's Functions; 4. Rays; 5. Photon Fluid Transport; 6. Light Diffusion; 7. Diffusive Random Laser; Part II. Photonic Spin Glasses: 8. Spin Glass Theory and Replica Symmetry Breaking; 9. Modes and Fluctuations in Lasers; 10. The Photonic Spin Glass; 11. Photonic Spin Glass Theory; 12. Photonic Spin Glass Experiments; Part III. Optical Ising Machines: 13. Focusing in Random Media and Transmission Matrix; 14. The Spatial Ising Machine; 15. The Parametron and the Coherent Ising Machine.