The new chip uses light instead of electricity to process information.

“An artist’s illustration of a photonic valleytronic chip for information processing. Credit: Dr. Chi Li”. (ScitechDaily, Scientists Create Tiny Chip That Uses Light Instead of Electricity To Process Information)

The new model. The photonic microchip is based on valleytronics. “The breakthrough centers on an emerging field known as 'valleytronics,' which aims to store and process information using quantum properties inside advanced materials. Scientists have long viewed the technology as a possible path toward faster computing, lower energy use, and more powerful communication systems. But one major challenge has held the field back: no one has successfully combined all the key functions into a single compact platform.” (ScitechDaily, Scientists Create Tiny Chip That Uses Light Instead of Electricity To Process Information)

Many models have been developed to replace electrons and electricity with light in computers. The photonic computers. Or, photonic microchips are tools that replace electricity. By using laser light.  In the binary versions. The computer uses a certain brightness to transmit. Ones. And zeros. Brighter light usually means one. And a dimmer light can mean one. But there is also a possibility. To exchange. Those values. like. That one is dimmer, and zero is brighter. This helps the computer. To see if the electricity is cut. In the photonic computer, the system is usually. 

Sends laser beams into the photovoltaic cell. This makes it possible to transform electric impulses into laser beams. And oppositely transform electric impulses into photonic information. The photonic system requires less electricity than electric systems. In primitive quantum systems. Light can travel through different routes. The UV. And IR wavelengths can mean. Zero and one. If the system uses UV light. Or visible light frequencies. That heat load is lower than the IR can give. 

But the new method. Called: valleytronics. It can be the game-changer. “Valleytronics (from valley and electronics) is an experimental area in semiconductors that exploits local extrema ("valleys") in the electronic band structure. Certain semiconductors have multiple "valleys" in the electronic band structure of the first Brillouin zone, and are known as multivalley semiconductors. Valleytronics is the technology of control over the valley degree of freedom, a local maximum/minimum on the valence/conduction band, of such multivalley semiconductors.” (Wikipedia, Valleytronics)

The valleytronics allows for trapping multiple qubits. That form in spintronics in those valleys. “The term was coined in analogy to spintronics. While. In spintronics, the internal degree of freedom of spin is harnessed to store and manipulate. And read out bits of information, the proposal for valleytronics is to perform similar tasks using the multiple extrema of the band structure, so that the information of 0s and 1s would be stored as different discrete values of the crystal momentum.” (Wikipedia, Valleytronics)

As we see in the image above. The valleytronic chip involves small valleys. That allows the system to control and manipulate light by turning those quantum cylinders. 

The new system connects ultra-thin materials with the light and its quantum properties. Those materials are only a couple of atoms thin. And they can control light in new ways. “Photonic devices use light to achieve massive bandwidths, ultra-fast data transmission speeds, and lower energy consumption, so what we have achieved has strong potential for applications in quantum computing, advanced imaging, and next-generation optical communication systems.” (ScitechDaily,Scientists Create Tiny Chip That Uses Light Instead of Electricity To Process Information)

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-create-tiny-chip-that-uses-light-instead-of-electricity-to-process-information/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spintronics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valleytronics