Multimedia / Image of the Week

Image of the Week

Striking images of optics and photonics, contributed by OPN readers

Folding the Light
Folding the Light

White light experiences multiple reflections between the mirror and linear variable filter. The application of this optical module was presented in Applied Optics.

—Aliaksei Kobylinskiy and Robert Brunner, Ernst-Abbe-Hochschule Jena, Jena, Germany

24 Mar 2023

Light-Beam Shaping
Light-Beam Shaping

A large-dynamic-range deformable mirror for intense laser applications (ILAO-Star, Imagine Optic) is used to induce high values of optical aberrations (astigmatism and coma) into an incoming light beam.

—Alok Kumar Pandey, Laboratoire Iréne Joliot-Curie, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France

17 Mar 2023

Colorful Aberrations
Colorful Aberrations

Chromatic-aberration detail produced by the interaction of ambient light and a lens located in the active and reconfigurable optics lab at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, USA.

—Natalith Palacios-Ortega, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, NC, USA

10 Mar 2023

360-Degree Rainbow
360-Degree Rainbow

A photo of an almost 360-degree rainbow, taken in the mist at Dettifoss in Iceland, one of Europe's most powerful waterfalls.

—Elizabeth Dreyer, Boston Consulting Group, Livonia, MI, USA

03 Mar 2023

Glowing Raindrops
Glowing Raindrops

Droplets from a rainstorm collect on the panoramic glass roof of an early Tesla Model 3. The unique color is indicative of a multi-layer dichroic coating—presumably for both UV and IR blocking, since the car stays quite cool in the Arizona sun. Image captured with a Galaxy S21+.

—Katie Schwertz, Edmund Optics, Tucson, AZ, USA

24 Feb 2023

Coffee Interference
Coffee Interference

Images of the blue sky above a university building, reflected in coffee bubbles, are magically colored by destructive thin-film interference of the spectral parts of the daylight (complementary colors).

—Aliaksei Kobylinskiy, University of Applied Sciences Jena, Jena, Germany

17 Feb 2023

The Magic of Polarization
The Magic of Polarization

The magic of polarization: Birefringence is created by a randomly crumpled cellophane foil sandwiched between two crossed polarizers.[OPN 2022 Photo Contest]

—Dan Curticapean, Offenburg University, Offenburg, Germany

10 Feb 2023

Herriott Cell Reflections
Herriott Cell Reflections

Multiple reflections inside a Herriott cell, a cavity made of two concave mirrors with an aperture in one of them. The reflection points draw an ellipse and can be used to determine the path length introduced by the cell.

—Dorilian Lopez-Mago, Quantum Optics Laboratory, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico

03 Feb 2023

Molecular Picasso
Molecular Picasso

A scanning electron micrograph of the kaleidoscopic crystallization of fluorescent proteins evokes Picasso’s cubism.

—Prathmesh Deshmukh, Rezlind Bushati and Sitakanta Satapathy, Laboratory for Nano and Micro Photonics (LaNMP), City University of New York, NY, USA

27 Jan 2023

Rainbow over Lake Mjøsa
Rainbow over Lake Mjøsa

A semicircular rainbow with dual rings over Lake Mjøsa, Norway.[OPN 2022 Photo Contest Honorable Mention]

—Tanjir Alam, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Gjøvik, Norway

20 Jan 2023

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