Study shows how light can transform an insulating material into a semimetal

https://phys.org/news/2024-05-insulating-material-semimetal.html

"exposing insulator to ultrafast laser pulses (10 fs) alters electron movement through photoexcitation above threshold fluence using titanium diselenide insulator that looks like metal (bright, reflects light)... transforms into semimetal for just under 500 fs... as soon as laser interrupted, returns to original state... enables devices change from insulating to semi-metallic in very short time, furthering powerful computers processing complex calculations quickly using light instead of electric fields"