The counter-intuitive features of quantum mechanics make it hard to design experiments to study the quantum fundamentals and to develop quantum computing and quantum cryptography. So a team of researchers has developed an algorithm called Melvin for combining the building blocks of quantum optics experiments, such as beam splitters and mirrors, to achieve a particular goal, such as a certain photonic quantum state. The experimental arrangements generated so far are ones the researchers say they were unlikely to have thought of themselves, and some work in ways that are hard to understand. http://physics.aps.org/articles/v9/25
