(April 1, 2015) The
name sounds like something Marvin the Martian might have built, but the
“nanomechanical plasmonic phase modulator” is not a doomsday device. Developed
by a team of government and university researchers, including physicists from
the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the innovation
harnesses tiny electron waves called plasmons. It’s a step towards enabling
computers to process information hundreds of times faster than today’s
machines.