The device is tiny, constructed from an inexpensive material, and could one day become an integral part of computer hardware.

While the ongoing increase in computer processing power continues its inevitable forward march, researchers believe that a better harnessing of light beams may lead to much faster computing than current methods allow, with data transfer speeds up to 1,000 times that of conventional, electricity-carrying copper wires.

Swapping electrical data transmission for light would result in much faster computing, but for the sake of viability, the light beams need to be able to make the same sharp turns as those made by wires on a circuit board. Conventional light waveguides, such as hollow metal pipes or optical fibers, are only able to steer light around gradual turns, with the beams losing energy if the angle is too sharp.