Science Daily points the way for the next information revolution. Not using electrons, but light itself:
The merging of two technologies under development — plasmonics and nanophotonics — is promising the emergence of new “quantum information systems” far more powerful than today’s computers.
The technology hinges on using single photons — the tiny particles that make up light — for switching and routing in future computers that might harness the exotic principles of quantum mechanics.
…
“A seamless interface between plasmonics and nanophotonics could guarantee the use of light to overcome limitations in the operational speed of conventional integrated circuits,” Shalaev said.
Researchers are proposing the use of “plasmon-mediated interactions,” or devices that manipulate individual photons and quasiparticles called plasmons that combine electrons and photons.
This is the part I get: the use of light to overcome limitations in the operational speed of conventional integrated circuits. Very fast. Very small. Very weird. On-and-off-at-the-same-time weird.