December 2014 Issue
Feature Articles
Optics in 2014
This special issue of Optics & Photonics News highlights the most exciting peer-reviewed optics research to have emerged over the past 12 months.
by Guest editors: Robert D. Guenther, Mihaela Dinu, Dmitry Dylov, Andrew Forbes, Nicholas J. Frigo, Groot Gregory, Bob Jopson, Carlos López-Mariscal, Zuleykhan Tomova and Stephen R. Wilk.After Image Photo Contest Winners
Congratulations to the winners of OPN’s 9th annual After Image photo contest! And thanks to each of you who submitted one of the nearly 70 amazing photos we received.
Departments and Columns
Scatterings
Headliners, policy news, industry updates and book reviews.
Internal Energy Flows and Optical Trapping
A novel concept, optical currents, opens new possibilities for manipulating matter at the nanoscale.
Increasing Minority Participation in University STEM Programs
A proposed university program could increase the number of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees earned by women and minorities in the United States.
Edible Optics
Five years have passed since Stephen R. Wilk wrote about edible lasers for OPN. This month he takes a look at edible optics—lenses, prisms, films and even optical fibers made of sugar and salt.
![Illustration of optical skyrmions. [Y. Shen]](https://opnmedia.blob.core.windows.net/$web/opn/media/images/articles/2025/0525/departments/202505-cover-web.jpg?ext=.jpg)
![Illustration of a synapse in the brain. [Getty Images]](https://opnmedia.blob.core.windows.net/$web/opn/media/images/articles/2025/0425/departments/202504-cover-web.jpg?ext=.jpg)
![Fiber draped around a hand, demonstrating its flexibility. [Photo by Z. Wang and L. Wei]](https://opnmedia.blob.core.windows.net/$web/opn/media/images/articles/2025/0325/departments/202503-cover-web.jpg?ext=.jpg)