Wiring light and signals

A circuit carries two different things, and Shine keeps them apart:

	Light	Signals
What it is	an optical field: amplitude, phase, wavelength	an electrical value: usually 0 or 1, sometimes a number
Drawn as	beams (free space) and thick coloured waveguides	thin right-angled wires; orange = 1, grey = 0, blue = other values
Ports	round, on the left (in) and right (out) of boxes	square, on the top (in) and bottom (out)
Fan-out	one waveguide per port	one output can drive many inputs

Beams

Free-space parts talk through beams. A laser shoots a beam along its direction; mirrors, splitters and other parts redirect it; detectors and the backs of mirrors absorb it. Beams travel along rows, columns and 45° diagonals.

A beam also connects to boxes: a beam that reaches the left edge of a box on the row of a light input enters that input, and light leaving an unconnected output of a box goes out of its right edge as a beam. Light hitting a box anywhere else is absorbed.

Waveguides

Drag from a box’s light output (round, right edge) to another box’s light input (round, left edge). The waveguide is drawn as a curve, coloured by the light it carries. Its length follows the drawing, so moving boxes changes the phase. Each port takes one waveguide; a new one replaces the old. Click a waveguide and press X to delete it.

Signal wires

Drag from a square output terminal (bottom edge) to a square input (top edge), or the other way round. An input has one driver; an output can drive many inputs. Wires are routed with right angles, and wires between the same rows get separate lanes so buses stay readable.

Parts with signal terminals:

Laser (input on top): the amplitude is multiplied by the signal.
Phase Shifter (input on top): adds π per unit.
Attenuator (input on top): multiplies the transmission.
Detector (output below): the received power, or 0/1 with bit on.
the electronics blocks, function cells, and components’ Signal in/out pins.

Converting between light and signals

Light and signals never connect directly. If you drag a wire from one to the other, the wire turns amber while you hover, and dropping it opens a small offer that explains what is needed, with a button that inserts and wires it:

Light → signal: a detector. Shine places a detector in the beam leaving that light output and wires its output to the signal input. For displays and registers it switches the detector to 0/1 output.
Signal → light: a laser. Shine places a laser in front of that light input and wires the signal to its amplitude, so 1 turns it on and 0 off.

If the cell it needs is taken, it says which cell to clear. In real chips these are a photodiode with a receiver circuit, and a modulator on a laser.