A team of researchers with members from institutions in China and the U.S. has successfully created a photoswitch from a single photosensitive molecule. In their paper published in the journal Science, the team describes the changes they made to earlier versions of the switch that allowed it to operate successfully for an entire year.
As scientists seek to make ever faster computers, they have sought ways to make them smaller—the smaller the parts, the less distance information in such a machine must travel. They have also increasingly turned to using light to carry information, rather than electricity, because it travels so much faster. To that end, several teams have attempted to create single molecule switches that can be turned on and off by exposure to light. Until now, such attempts have not worked well (switches have often become stuck), and those that showed promise lasted for just hours, days or weeks. In this new effort the researchers report that they have improved a prior technique by fixing a sticking problem and have not only fixed the problem, but have created a switch that was able to operate for over a year.
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