{
  "id": 15046440,
  "title": "A highway instead of a racetrack: Strong coupling of light and sound in an optical fiber",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/16/a-highway-instead-of-a-racetrack-strong-coupling-of-light-and-sound",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-16T21:20:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Phys.org",
    "slug": "phys-org",
    "url": "https://phys.org/news/2026-10-highway-racetrack-strong-coupling-optical.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Scientists have achieved a groundbreaking feat by establishing strong coupling between light and acoustic vibrations within an optical fiber for the first time. Optical fibers, integral to both classical and quantum communication, could potentially function as quantum processors in the future. This discovery, published in Nature Physics, opens up new avenues for quantum signal processing. The research, conducted by a team from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light and Leibniz University Hannover, utilized stimulated Brillouin scattering—a process that enabled the team to observe strong light-sound interactions in a single pass of the fiber at cryogenic temperatures of 4 K. This phenomenon, known as strong coupling, is crucial for processing quantum information effectively. The team observed an avoided crossing in the spectral response—a sign that the light-sound coupling surpassed both optical and acoustic losses. This proof of concept offers a promising new platform for quantum interactions within existing telecommunications infrastructure, and potentially paves the way to studying quantum properties of massive objects.",
  "summary": "For the first time, scientists have achieved strong coupling between light and long-lived acoustic vibrations in an optical fiber. Optical fibers are used in both classical telecommunications and quantum communication and could serve not only as connections between computing nodes but also as quantum processors themselves in the future. The results, published in Nature Physics, pave the way for…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}