Step lightly: All-optical transistor triggered by single photon promises advances in quantum applications

(Phys.org) --Optical transistors and switches are fundamental in both classical and quantum optical information processing. A key objective in optics research is determining and developing the structural and performance limits of such all-optical devices, in which a single gate photon modifies the transmission or phase accumulation of multiple source photons - a feature necessitating strong interaction between individual photons. While significant progress has been made - especially in cavity QE...