Programmable Light
Software should be able to manipulate the physical behavior of light.
These interactive experiments explore how computation, electric fields, materials, geometry, and photons can be connected into programmable physical systems.
Programmable Light
Experiments in turning software, voltage, geometry, and materials into control over light.
- 01Voltage → phase → lightMach–Zehnder Electro-Optic ModulatorApply voltage, change refractive index, shift optical phase, and observe interference redirect light between output ports.Launch experiment
- 02Programmable wavefrontsPhase SteeringExplore how controlled phase differences reshape an optical wavefront and steer light without mechanical motion.Launch experiment
- 03Geometry → fieldMetamaterial LabExplore how geometry and material structure alter electromagnetic field behavior.Launch experiment
- 04Electromagnetic fieldsField PlaygroundVisualize electromagnetic fields, propagation, interference, and wave behavior interactively.Launch experiment
How to read these
- 01 · MODEL
Reduced-order, and says so
Each experiment runs a closed-form model chosen for immediate interactivity: analytical fields, overlap integrals, and Pockels relations. None of them is an electromagnetic solver, and each states which of its numbers are exact and which are approximations.
- 02 · SEPARATION
Physics apart from rendering
Every experiment consumes a generic result object from a provider interface. A real solver can replace the analytical model behind that interface without the visualization or the controls changing.
- 03 · DIRECTION
Toward hardware
These are teaching instruments for the questions the hardware work asks: what the field is doing, what geometry implements it, and what voltage it takes to steer light without moving anything.