  We use a new technique to directly extract an estimate of the quasiparticle
self-energy from the optical conductivity which can be easily related to both
theory and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) experiments. In
the high Tc cuprate Bi-2212 we find evidence for a new high energy scale at 900
meV in addition to the two previously well known ones at roughly 50 and 400
meV. The intermediate scale at 400 meV has been recently seen in ARPES as a
large kink which optics finds to be weaker and shifted. In YBCO, the three
energy scales are shifted to lower energy relative to Bi-2212 and we observe
the emergence of a possible fourth high energy feature at 600 meV.
