New photonic device uses light instead of electricity for faster computing

Researchers built a hybrid photonic device combining monolayer MoSe₂ with a tightly confining nanocavity.

The setup strengthens light-matter interaction and enables ultrafast all-optical switching at about 4 femtojoules.

The result points to a path toward faster, far more energy-efficient photonic computing.

Such femtojoule-scale control could help scale photonic chips for AI and quantum systems.