Sebastiaan van Dijken

In a thin magnetic film, spin waves run like ripples along a taut string. Add metal strips to the film, and you get a resonator — like a music box where some notes ring out loud and others fall silent. Normally, such a resonator strictly filters frequencies, but the researchers noticed: just slightly boost the signal, and the 'deaf' bands shift.

Quantum technology urgently needs a universal 'translator' between the languages of microwaves and light. Superconducting qubits communicate on centimeter wavelengths, while photons in optical fiber talk at optical frequencies.