One of the major limitations of optics-based systems at present is that, at a certain point, they still need to have electronics-based transistors to efficiently process the data. Now, a team led by Alireza Marandi, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics, has created an all-optical switch. Such a switch could eventually enable data processing using photons. Device nanofabrication was performed at the Kavli Nanoscience Institute (KNI) at Caltech. [Caltech story]
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Robert Perkins
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![An artist's illustration of an optical switch, splitting light pulses based on their energies.](https://divisions-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/eas70/Imported%20News%20Images/images/Optical_Switch_Signal_Processing.max-1400x800.png)
An artist's illustration of an optical switch, splitting light pulses based on their energies.
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