December 2024 Issue
Feature Articles
This special issue of Optics & Photonics News highlights exciting peer-reviewed optics research that has emerged over the past year.
Congratulations to the winners of OPN’s 19th annual After Image photo contest!
Departments and Columns
Optical tweezers on integrated chip / AR comes into focus / Laser headset tests stroke risk / 3D images from smartphones / Industry news
OPN spoke with Brandon Buscaino about his time as president of the Stanford Optical Society, his experience as an Optica Ambassador and why he chose a career in industry.
Each December, OPN looks at interesting research results of the past year. But what about the year ahead? We asked several contributors to our “Optics in 2024” feature for thoughts on areas that might advance in 2025.
The Unexpected Failure of Herschel’s Astrometer
Sir John Herschel invented an elaborate device to measure the brightness of stars—and then didn’t use it.
Also in this Issue
I leave office with the hope that problems will be overcome and science will flourish worldwide.
30, 20 and 10 Years Ago in OPN
Microwave trap; hollow-core Bragg fibers; spontaneous spatial organization of a cold atomic cloud.
Optica Fellow stories / Global Photonics Economic Forum / NES local section turns 75 / Frequency combs incubator / Best-paper prizes / MedTech and PECC Industry Summits / Gapontsev Prize / Laser Congress / In memoriam: Wilson Sibbett / Thank you, editors and meeting volunteers
In a stop-action shot of water dripping from a faucet into a blue cup of water, motion is frozen by a flash that illuminates an image of the moon.
![Manual probe system with needles for test of semiconductor on silicon wafer. [A. Morozov / Getty]](https://opnmedia.blob.core.windows.net/$web/opn/media/images/articles/2025/1125/departments/202511-cover-web.jpg?ext=.jpg)
![Researcher Clara Saraceno in the lab. [Image by Carsten Behler Photography]](https://opnmedia.blob.core.windows.net/$web/opn/media/images/articles/2025/1025/departments/202510-cover-web.jpg?ext=.jpg)
