University of Pennsylvania professor Nader Engheta hopes to create electronic components and circuits in an entirely new regime–one where “current” is no longer defined as the movement of electrons and holes, but instead as an electromagnetic wave, leading to a new kind of optical information processing and perhaps a new form of nanoscale computational unit that would outperform conventional silicon electronics.

His building blocks are metananocircuitry–composite nanomaterials that exhibit properties that are dictated by their nanoscale structures rather than their chemistry–and dielectric nanoparticles. For example, nanoparticles with positive permittivity could realize optical capacitors, those with negative permittivity, could realize optical inductors and resistors. Combining such components could lead to complex optical nanocircuits.