[justifier]

    Moving data around inside a computer means shoving it 
    through wires, which have inherent bandwidth 
    limitations and produce a lot of heat. Once that data     
    hits a network, however, it often runs across optical 
    hardware, which can send information long distances 
    at high bandwidth without needing a dedicated nuclear 
    reactor for power.

is the goal reduced power consumption?

[_chris_]

It's both increased bandwidth and lower energy. It'd be useless if it blew the thermal budget to achieve the higher bandwidth.

[justifier]

can you explain the mechanism for the bandwidth increase?

do the photovoltaics act as logic gates? doing calculations?

if the mechanism that is controlling the optics is electric:both transmitting and receiving; it would seem the throughput would be the same as pure electric

i understand fiber optic because light will travel a longer distance faster than an electric field propagated through wire, but these chips are built using atomic scale welding techniques(i)

(o) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGFhc8R_uO4&feature=youtu.be...