Jin-Shi Xu

Open systems exchange energy with their surroundings, like a guitar string fading into the air. Scientists built such a system out of light, twisting the beams into corkscrews and forming an artificial lattice — a maze where losses can be controlled at every step. Light in this maze always moves at the maximum possible speed, but its energy can fade or grow.

In a silicon carbide crystal, which looks like a transparent stone, there are hidden defects — places where atoms are out of line. One such defect acts as a quantum node: an electron inside it spins and processes information, while the nucleus of a neighboring atom quietly stores it.