text: Absorption of light and energy transfer (or conversion) involves colored molecules that can transfer electromagnetic energy, commonly in the form of a laser light source, to other molecules in another form of energy, such as thermal or electrical. These laser addressable colorants, also called near-infrared absorbers, are used in thermal energy conversion, photosensitisation of chemical reactions and the selective absorption of light. Applications areas include optical data storage, as organic photoconductors, as sensitisers in photomedicine, such as photodynamic therapy and photothermal therapy in the treatment of cancer, in photodiagnosis and phototheranostics, and in the photoinactivation of   microbes, blood and insects. The absorption of natural sunlight by chromic materials/chromophores is exploited in solar cells for the production of  electrical energy via solar cells, using both inorganic photovoltaics and organic materials (organic photovoltaics) and dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), and also in the production of useful chemicals via artificial photosynthesis. A developing area is the conversion of light into kinetic energy, often described under the  generic term of lightdriven molecular machines.