Shang Yu

Light races through a maze of mirrors and beam splitters, but at the end of its journey, it doesn't just flash on a detector: it transforms itself. In the new photonic computer, nonlinear modules have been added to the familiar linear circuits, and now light can perform any quantum operation, not just a subset.

A pentacene molecule is like a tiny top that can spin in two directions. Normally, you need a magnet to flip its direction. But in this work, no magnet was needed: sound did the job instead. A thin film of pentacene was placed on a lithium niobate plate.