Transfer data packets from long-haul fiber-optic networks to the electrical power grid and shoot the data (alongside electricity) straight into people's homes.

FORBES: Technology

Optical technologies have revolutionized long-distance communications, replacing low-capacity copper wiring that carries electrical signals with combinations of lasers and fiber-optic cabling that send information over many high-speed channels.

WSJ: IBM Claims Breakthrough in Laser-Based Chips

The artificial retina is composed by neuronal photoreceptors, called cones and rods, which capture light signals and transform them in electrical signals, transferring them to the retinal ganglion cells and, through the optic nerve, to the brain.

FORBES: Artificial Retina From A Photovoltaic Polymer