Multimedia / Image of the Week

Image of the Week

Striking images of optics and photonics, contributed by OPN readers

New York City Colors
New York City Colors

Double rainbow with a backdrop of the New York City skyline.

—Aniruddha Ray, University of Toledo, OH, USA

23 Sep 2022

Light Bird
Light Bird

A focused femtosecond laser pulse interacts with a glass slide—creating a colorful flying-bird pattern. The shiny colors denote the strong laser-induced breakdown.[Taken from the 2021 OPN Photo Contest]

—Zhijun Xu, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China

16 Sep 2022

Lake Manchar Overflowing
Lake Manchar Overflowing

Natural-color images, acquired by Landsat 8 and 9, of Lake Manchar, Pakistan’s largest freshwater lake, which overflowed in early September 2022 as devastating floods hit the Indus River Valley. Detailed image (bottom) shows breaches of the Main Nara Valley Drain, a canal that connects Lake Manchar (visible in the lower part of the top image) to Lake Hamal, which lies about 160 km (100 mi) to the north. (Details: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/150306/lake-manchar-is-overflowing)

—NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey 

09 Sep 2022

Ferris Wheel Light Show
Ferris Wheel Light Show

A Ferris wheel in Glasgow, Scotland, photographed through a dual-axis diffraction grating; the constituent wavelengths inside the lighting are dispersed in orthogonal axes to produce a dazzling rainbow light show. [Taken from the OPN 2020 Photo Contest]

—Kevin J. Mitchell, University of Glasgow, Scotland

02 Sep 2022

City Lights
City Lights

Reflections of city lights on the Nakagawa River in Fukuoka, Japan. [Taken from the 2007 OPN Photo Contest]

—Optica Fellow Joseph Shaw, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA

26 Aug 2022

Incandescent Spectrum
Incandescent Spectrum

An incandescent lightbulb viewed directly through a diffraction grating.

—Amal Mirando, University of Dayton, OH, USA

19 Aug 2022

Fluorescent Nanodiamonds
Fluorescent Nanodiamonds

Fluorescent nanodiamonds provide a photo-stable reference for microscopy developers and users.

—Mantas Zurauskas, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Ill., USA

12 Aug 2022

Halo Sunset with Sun Dogs
Halo Sunset with Sun Dogs

Sunset with 22-degree halo and sun dogs caused by ice crystals from a cold front moving over the Pacific Ocean.

—Robert Schalck, Optica Senior Member (Emeritus)

05 Aug 2022

Three-Wavelength Laser
Three-Wavelength Laser

A three-wavelength laser on an optical bench is used to turn a strong positive single lens with its plane surface toward the laser, off axis and at a large field angle. [Taken from the 2007 OPN Photo Contest]

—Klaus Biedermann and Göran Manneberg, KTH, Stockholm, Sweden

29 Jul 2022

"Moons"

Details of Ge/ZnS coating defects, at 200× magnification, evoke moons in deep space. [Taken from the 2007 OPN Photo Contest]

—Samuel F. Pellicori, Optica Senior Member, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

22 Jul 2022

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