Optical memristive switches

Optical memristive switches are particularly interesting for the use as latching optical switches, as a novel optical memory or as a digital optical switch. The optical memristive effect has recently enabled a miniaturization of optical devices far beyond of what seemed feasible. The smallest optical – or plasmonic – switch has now atomic scale and in fact is switched by moving single atoms. In this review, we summarize the development of optical memristive switches on their path from the micro- to the atomic scale. Three memristive effects that are important to the optical field are discussed in more detail. Among them are the phase transition effect, the valency change effect and the electrochemical metallization.