| Abstract: | Many hallmark quantum phenomena are not intrinsically microscopic: the same wave-packet and phase-space structures that underpin molecular dynamics and spectroscopy can be reproduced in carefully engineered classical systems. I will present a unified experimental program of quantum emulation built on three complementary platforms: surface gravity water waves, pilot-wave hydrodynamics, and programmable photonics that together turn questions from quantum foundations into laboratory measurements. Surface gravity waves obey a Schrödinger-like evolution that renders wave-packet dynamics directly observable; exploiting this analogy, we have measured the amplitude and phase of packets in linear potentials, reconstructed Wigner functions and Bohmian trajectories, and observed Talbot revivals, Kennard cubic-phase dynamics, and a phase-space horizon a tabletop analog of event-horizon kinematics. In pilot-wave hydrodynamics, millimetric droplets walking on a vibrating bath reproduce tunneling, quantized orbits, and nonlocal memory; I will present recent results including a force-free, gauge-like Aharonov–Bohm phase imprinted by a shielded vortex, a hydrodynamic measurement of the Kennard phase, and rotating “black-hole” geometries cast in a gravito-electromagnetic framework. Finally, in programmable photonics we use classical light, polarization, and spatial-mode control to emulate quantum-communication protocols such as BB84, B92, the six-state protocol, and Bell-test correlations including free-space, spatial-mode key distribution scaled to higher dimensions over 90 meters, with machine learning used to certify the results. The broader message is that quantum emulation is not merely pedagogy but a productive experimental strategy for probing the shared structure of waves, information, and geometry across systems as disparate as molecules, fluids, and light. |