Light is just about the most elusive stuff in nature. It never stays in one spot and nothing can catch it, much less travel faster. But what if light had finally met its match? What if you could stop light in its tracks, bend its dead straight beams into closed loops, and keep it trapped inside a labyrinth of winding pathways? You might then be able to build far more efficient lasers, and medical imaging devices that could see clearly through tissues using ordinary light instead of X-rays. And maybe even realise the big prize—optical computers that would process data at the speed of light. An optical computer would work much like an electronic computer, but would substitute pure light for electricity. But to make one you would need a way to control bits of light with precision, and to store them for more than a mere instant.
展开▼
