Progress in optical-driven switching technologies could help fuel a new phase of rapid acceleration in the speed of computer processing and data storage.MICHAEL EISENSTEIN, SCIENCE WRITERFor decades, computer technology has steadily achieved astonishing gains in performance, but it is becoming increasingly unclear how much longer this rapid progress can continue without considerable technological innovation. A computer rendering of an all-optical switch that combines a graphene layer (pattern) and a nanowaveguide (gray pointer). Courtesy of Masaaki Ono. 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