The paper is entirely theoretical and controls the polarity by mechanically changing the distance between mirrors. I would say that this has a roughly 0% chance

The paper is entirely theoretical and controls the polarity by mechanically changing the distance between mirrors. I would say that this has a roughly 0% chance of having any direct practical impact in the next 20 years. Here's an introduction to what the general field might give you: http://nelson.mit.edu/blog/terahertz-polaritonics-and-technique-development http://nelson.mit.edu/blog/terahertz-polaritonics-and-techni... This field is pretty new relative to other options which have similar technological advantages, the stuff I learned about plasmonics in grad school was quite primitive despite being the state of the art 15 years ago. Whereas photonics and spintronics are much better established. I'd personally focus on graphene, single electron transistors, and photonics (with perhaps plasmonics for interfacing) as the most likely candidates for real-world improvements in the next 10 years.