Submission + - Scientists Make a Light Switch Controlled By Individual Photons (vice.com)
Daniel_Stuckey writes: Researchers from MIT, Harvard, and the Vienna University of Technology have worked together to develop an optical transistor that is sensitive to light at a quantum level.
Transistors are the electrical “switches” that make both information storage and logical operations possible in computers. Normally, electricity flows through them at either higher or lower voltages to give them values of 1 or 0. The 1s and 0s, which are called bits, combine with other bits in specific patterns to establish information, which software then manipulates procedurally.
This transistor uses light instead of electricity, and it functions according to quantum mechanics. Specifically, its design takes advantage of both wave and particle descriptions of light that interacts with two reflective mirrors. When light passes through the two mirrors the transistor is "on" with a value of 1, and when it does not it is "off" with a value of 0.
Transistors are the electrical “switches” that make both information storage and logical operations possible in computers. Normally, electricity flows through them at either higher or lower voltages to give them values of 1 or 0. The 1s and 0s, which are called bits, combine with other bits in specific patterns to establish information, which software then manipulates procedurally.
This transistor uses light instead of electricity, and it functions according to quantum mechanics. Specifically, its design takes advantage of both wave and particle descriptions of light that interacts with two reflective mirrors. When light passes through the two mirrors the transistor is "on" with a value of 1, and when it does not it is "off" with a value of 0.