University of Arizona scientists unveil breakthrough petahertz-speed transistor

Editor's take: The University of Arizona could become the birthplace of the world's first petahertz-speed transistor. If successful, this research work could mark the dawn of a new era in computing, where the speed of light, rather than electricity, sets the pace for innovation. A team of scientists has unveiled a breakthrough that could one day propel computers to operate at speeds millions of times faster than today's most advanced processors. The discovery, led by researchers at the University of Arizona and their international collaborators, centers on harnessing ultrafast pulses of light to control the movement of electrons in graphene – a material just one atom thick. The research, recently published in Nature Communications, demonstrates that electrons can be made to bypass barriers almost instantaneously by firing laser pulses lasting less than a trillionth of a second at graphene. This phenomenon, known as quantum tunneling, has long intrigued physicists, but the team's abi ... Read full article.