Maybe there should be a category for “important to most, but only understandable to a few”. For the first time, a long term photonic memory device has been demonstrated. The key is ‘photonic’ rather than electronic. Modern technology relies on electronic, which relies on electricity, which is fast, but not as fast as light, not as fast as photons. As processing speeds and requirements increase and chip geometries reach a lower limit, even the speed of electricity becomes a limiting factor. Creating memory chips that work with light instead of electricity means a possible extension of computational speed and power. Inventions take a long time to commercialize, so the change won’t be apparent soon.
(Click on the diagram for the link.)
“Photonic Memory Chip First Ever To Store Data Permanently” – Science Beta
Pretending Not To Panic 