Researchers at the University of Cambridge announced a miniature electro-optical switch with the potential for more energy-efficient signal processing.
The switch can change the spin – or angular momentum – of a liquid form of light by applying electric fields to a semiconductor device a millionth of a metre in size.
The project, which was conducted at the Cambridge NanoPhotonics Centre with funding from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the European Research Council (ERC) and the Leverhulme Trust, leverages a state of matter called Polariton Bose-Einstein condensate, which enables the switch to mix electric and optical signals.
https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/liquid-light-switch-could-enable-more-powerful-electronics
