Fiber-optic cables carry streams of information in different channels that have their own light frequencies. Those frequencies must be separated and sent to their destinations, where they are converted into electrical signals, the BBC said Wednesday.

Metamaterials, described by Information Week as "composites with the ability to bend electromagnetic waves, to negatively refract light," may be able to slow light signals that transport information so there would be no need for an electrical conversion once the information arrives at its destination.

"The light and the fibers can quite cheerfully sustain a couple of terahertz, but your electronics can't do more than a few gigahertz," Chris Stevens of the University of Oxford told the British network.