Kun Huang

Light can be combed like hair. Instead of hair, we have frequencies; instead of a comb, a laser. The result is a comb made of thousands of even 'teeth'—frequencies. Such an optical comb helps study molecules and measure time with precision down to quadrillionths of a second. An ordinary comb has teeth spaced evenly apart.

Light can carry information faster than any electronics. But usually, between a computer and a laser sits a digital-to-analog converter — a device that turns zeros and ones into electrical signals. It's the bottleneck. The new transmitter does away with this middleman.

The scene is lit by spotlights, but the most interesting action happens in the shadows — where molecules invisible to the eye are hiding. The new camera picks up the heat of these "invisible" objects and turns it into ordinary light.