Mining hardware helps scientists gain insight into silicon nanoparticles

Researchers have developed a three-dimensional dynamic model of an interaction between light and nanoparticles. They used a supercomputer using graphics accelerators for calculations. The results show that silicon particles exposed to short, intense laser pulses lose their symmetry temporarily. Their optical properties become strongly heterogeneous. Such a change in properties depends on particle size. Therefore, it can be used for light control in ultrafast information processing nanoscale devi...