A new semiconductor ( possibly)

[BEP]

A way to gate electron flow using photons?

I would like to hear the switching times for the novatron.

This would explain no heat loss due to gate action.

Imagine producing near or light frequencies that weren't visible to the human eye but only to an eye consisting of an array of these gates.....

Yep! The military surely has it.

[wattsup]

@AhuraMazda

Do you mean something like this.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=E4VCOOMfzvI&feature=related

[BEP]

The thing about magnetic beam switching tubes that interests me most is the fact the beam would 'latch' to the selected anode.

A military clock (which used the above, along with Nixies) I used in the 70's had a reset button. This button was used to reset these beams after a power failure. Sometimes even the removal of power would not reset the beam direction or whether the beam was on or not.

It was built by Sperry - Don't remember the model number but it filled the width of a 21 inch relay rack and about 4 inches high.

Anyway, the latching of the beam is interesting to me.