Multimedia / After Images

After Image

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

Afterglow
Afterglow

This composite image—stitched together from pictures taken from a drone—shows the atmospheric scattering effect called afterglow. It was taken on a cold evening in Oulu, Finland, just after sunset, at a temperature of around -10 °C. [OPN 2018 Photo Contest Editors’ Choice]   

—Prateek Singh,  University of Oulu, Finland

01 Dec 2018

Alien life?
Alien life?

Nighttime view over Badwater, Death Valley, Calif., USA, the lowest point (-282 feet below sea level) in the United States. The “aliens” are actually made from combined exposures of LED lights waved in a more-or-less vertical direction.  The base picture is a 15-second exposure with the core of the Milky Way galaxy in view.  

—Michael Duncan,  OSA Senior Science Advisor

01 Nov 2018

In Rainbows
In Rainbows

A circular rainbow produced in the lab of Federico Capasso at Harvard University by collecting scattered light of an array of TiO2 nanostructures using a microscope objective. The nanostructure array disperses light in a similar way to water droplets, producing blue color in the inner ring and reddish color toward the edge of the rainbow. 

—Wei Ting Chen, Harvard University, USA

20 Sep 2018

Blood Moon
Blood Moon

The longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century (103 minutes) took place on 27 July 2018. Image taken on the Feldberg, the highest mountain of the Black Forest in Germany.  

—Dan Curticapean, Offenburg University, Germany

20 Aug 2018

A Shooting Star
A Shooting Star

Close-up view of a shooting star produced in a plasma windtunnel. These facilities are used to simulate the extreme conditions during the entry of spacecraft into the atmosphere. In this case, the test object placed in the hot plasma flow was a piece of a meteorite that melted and evaporated within seconds—exactly like the falling stars in the sky.

—Martin Eberhart, High Enthalpy Flow Diagnostics Group, Institute of Space Systems, Stuttgart, Germany

20 Jun 2018

Telescope window
Telescope window

Telescope window arrays realize laws of refraction without the use of metamaterials and could one day be used as low-vision aids for people with severe sight impairment.

—Kevin J. Mitchell, University of Glasgow, Scotland, U.K.

20 May 2018

Multiple Diffraction Grating
Multiple Diffraction Grating

A collimated supercontinuum laser hits a diffraction grating. Multiple diffraction orders can be seen reflecting off of the grating. A piece of paper is used to trace out the laser beam in this long exposure shot.

—Benjamin M. Cromey, University of Arizona, USA

20 Apr 2018

Large lens in polyester
Large lens in polyester

Large lens cast in polyester showing sub-unity image magnification. Displayed at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, USA.  

—Catalin Florea

20 Mar 2018

Output light field
Output light field

Output light field of a tapered fiber probe illuminating a vial filled with water containing trace amounts of the dye Rhodamine 6B. Coupled into the fiber are green (532 nm) and blue (488 nm) laser light under slightly different angles resulting in colorful patterns due to effects of diffraction, interference, scattering and fluorescence. The result is reminiscent of a human iris with the pupil staring intently at the bottom of the glass vial from close proximity.  

—Nils Frederik Hasselmann and Mathias Hünecke, Nonlinear Photonics, Münster University, Germany

20 Feb 2018

Exploring the Quantum World
Exploring the Quantum World

Researchers at JPL and Caltech have developed a new type of amplifier that boosts electrical signals and can be used for everything from studying stars, galaxies and black holes to exploring the quantum world and developing quantum computers.

—NASA/JPL-Caltech

20 Jan 2018

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