A tiny switch could redirect light between computer chips in mere nanoseconds
Light waves can transport information more efficiently than electric current
![gold plate](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/111319_mt_optoelectronic-switch_feat.jpg?fit=1028%2C579&ssl=1)
A new kind of tiny switch uses an ultrathin gold disk to catch light waves (blue pulses) traveling down one wirelike structure called a waveguide (flowing top right to bottom left), and transfers that light to a new waveguide. Many of these switches connected in an array could help a computer process information using light, rather than electric current.
S. Kelley/NIST