Speed-of-light computers made possible by ultra-tiny 'beamsplitter'

Computer engineers at the University of Utah announced a breakthrough on Monday, potentially paving the way for supercomputers that process data thousands of times faster than they do now

Traditional computers process data by way of electrons, which travel through wired connections. But the engineers have developed an "ultracompact beamsplitter" that uses photons instead, creating light beams 50 times thinner than a strand of hair

And because the beamsplitter itself is so small, millions of them could fit on a single computer chip