Abstract
The quantum boomerang effect is a counterintuitive phenomenon in which a wave packet launched with finite momentum in a disordered medium returns to its origin. However, up to now, the experimental exploration of this boomerang effect remains largely unexplored. Here, we report the observation of this effect with light in an on-chip, one-dimensional (1D) disordered waveguide lattice. After benchmarking the system through Anderson localization, we launch a kinetic light beam into the system and track its center of mass (COM): it first moves away from its starting point, arrives at a maximum-valued point, reverses its direction, and returns to its original position over time, revealing the real-space observation of the photonic quantum boomerang effect. We also show two methods to accelerate and control the return: a symmetric gradient loss and time-varying coupling control to effectively increase the return velocity. Both strategies are realized experimentally and captured by our model. These results establish a controllable photonic platform for boomerang physics and open an avenue for future study in nonlinear and many-photon regimes.
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Acknowledgements
This research is supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2023YFA1406703 and 2022YFA1404203), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 12174339), Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. LR23A040003), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 226-2025-00124), and Excellent Youth Science Foundation Project (Overseas). Z.Y. thanks C.G. and F.S. for helpful discussions.
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X.H. and F.W. fabricated the sample and conducted the measurements. Z.W. and X.H. carried out the theoretical modeling and numerical simulations. Z.Y. conceived and supervised this project. Z.Y., Z.W., and X.H. wrote the manuscript with input from B.Y. and S.Z. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the manuscript.
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Hou, X., Wu, Z., Wang, F. et al. Quantum boomerang effect of light. Nat Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-68293-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-68293-8
