Multimedia / After Images

After Image

The beauty of light, as seen on the last page of each OPN issue

The Beauty in an imperfection
The Beauty in an imperfection

Spectrum of light generated from a plasma by focusing a 35-fs amplified laser. Aliasing occurs when the spatial frequency of a camera sensor does not match that of the object and is often an undesired artifact. However, a different facet of aliasing artifact is shown here—the beauty in an imperfection.

—Mervin Lim Pac Chong,  University of Rochester, NY, USA

01 Mar 2021

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot as you’ve never seen it before. Artist Mik Petter created this unique digital artwork using data from the JunoCam imager on NASA’s Juno spacecraft. The use of colorful fractals highlights the tumultuous atmospheric zones in and around the Great Red Spot.

—Mik Petter / NASA, USA

01 Feb 2021

2D regular optical pattern
2D regular optical pattern

2D regular optical pattern formed by a 632.8-nm Gaussian beam propagating through a 10-mm length of Fe-doped lithium niobate crystal, and registered by a CMOS camera after 140 seconds of illumination.  

—L. Tsarukyan, A. Badalyan, F. Devaux, M. Chauvet  and R. Drampyan, Institute for Physical Research, National Academy of Sciences, Armenia

31 Dec 2020

Butterfly wings
Butterfly wings

A single snapshot taken with a gigapixel microscope. [OPN 2020 Photo Contest Editors’ Choice] 

—Gregor Hortsmeyer, Ramona Optics, U.S.A.

01 Dec 2020

Birefringence
Birefringence

Birefringence from liquid crystals atop nanostructured pixel arrays (under the optical microscope) displays unusual color arrangements.

—Calum Williams, University of Cambridge, U.K.

01 Nov 2020

A Converging Beam
A Converging Beam

A converging beam of 405 nm wavelength is made to pass through the tilted lens in which the angle of incidence exceeds the critical angle and manifests in several internal reflections.     

—Satyajeet Patil, Physical Research Laboratory, Department of Space, India

01 Oct 2020

Rainbow Colors in Plastic Cutlery
Rainbow Colors in Plastic Cutlery

Rainbow colors in plastic cutlery, laid on a computer screen and imaged through a linear polarizer, show areas of differential local stress in the material when the cutlery was manufactured. The colors highlight variations in the material’s birefringence, which depends on the local stress state and the wavelength of light.     

—Morgan Facchin, University of St. Andrews, U.K.

01 Sep 2020

A polarization “painting” inspired by Kandinsky
A polarization “painting” inspired by Kandinsky

Layers of colorless adhesive tape are cut, oriented, and sandwiched between crossed polarizing sheets. The tape is birefringent and dichroic, allowing for a wide palate of colors to be perceived in transmitted sunlight. 

—Aaron D. Slepkov,  Trent University, Canada

01 Jul 2020

Orb of Light
Orb of Light

Light painting orb created with an LED attached to a gyroscope. Precession is traced as the system loses energy.  

—Edgar Guevara, CONACYT-UASLP,  San Luis Potosí, México

01 Jun 2020

Time-integrating far-field spatial pattern
Time-integrating far-field spatial pattern

Time-integrating far-field spatial pattern of multiple-slit spatiotemporal interferometry (MSTI), when the input ultrafast pulsed beam possesses pulse-front curvature.  

—Zhaoyang Li, Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University

01 May 2020

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