Photonic Circuits for the New Information Age: Part 2 - Ben Eggleton, ISS2013

Part 2 of Professor Ben Eggleton's talk at ISS2013: Nanoscience - Sydney, Australia, July 2013.
Ben takes us through the history of optical communications, from semaphore to the present day, then into the future as CUDOS sees it: optical communications and processing on staggering new photonic chip devices.
NOTE: tragically, our technology failed us for this video - we have no footage of Ben himself, only the audio and his slide presentation.

[@bobloblaw11111]

At 12:30 it is mentioned that a current is induced by the light field in the metal ring. Can this somehow be used as a source of energy or is it something completely different? Thanks

[@iss2013lectures]

Well, light energy here is being used to produce the current - in principle, that current could be used for other things, yes. But the currents are very small in this case, and the energy is from the original light source anyway - so you're not really gaining anything. Does that answer your question, or am I missing your point?

[@bobloblaw11111]

So it isn't something that could be adapted to throw on the roof and produce power from the sun?