New photonic router works by flipping reflective atom's lid

Quantum boffins from Israel's Weizmann Institute have demonstrated a two-input/two-output router that works entirely with single photons – no electronics required. It's not the first time a photonic router has been demonstrated, but what's different about the Israeli work is that everything is photonic: the device has two …

[frank ly]

I'll go pedantic

I wouldn't call it a router. It's a switch.

[willi0000000]

Re: I'll go pedantic

but where's the glamor in that?

[Robert Helpmann??]

Re: I'll go pedantic

I think the big thing here isn't the creation of a router or switch, but the fact that they have created a photonic transistor.

[Martin Budden]

Re: I'll go pedantic

Transistor as a switch yes, transistor as an amplifier no. So it's a switch.

[The First Dave]

Love their discription of this as "robust" - I bet this requires an entire room full of equipment, at just the right temperature, etc....

[synonymous cowherd]

It's the future, and it's here today

You bet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZwzNTc8SfU#t=44 , pay attention to the temperature requirement. Soon we'll all be packing liquid helium.....:P