Rainbow Lightsail 

This photograph captures the world’s highest-aspect-ratio nanophotonic element: a nanometer-thick, centimeter-scale photonic crystal “lightsail” suspended on a silicon wafer. The membrane’s billions of subwavelength holes allow for high reflectivity, producing the vivid rainbow colors seen here through optical interference. [OPN 2025 Photo Contest]

—Richard Alexander Norte, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands

15 May 2026

Caustic and Shadow Artwork 

Grazing sunlight illuminating a glass of water generates an artwork of caustics and shadows.  

— Andrea Aiello, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Erlangen Germany

08 May 2026

Droplet Optics  

A raindrop resting on a leaf forms a near-perfect sphere, transforming it into both a spherical mirror and a spherical lens. Its curved surface reflects a miniature image of the surrounding sky and trees, while within, the droplet magnifies the fine cellular structures of the leaf. [OPN 2025 Photo Contest]

—Vahid Abbasian, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, USA

01 May 2026

Rainbow's Ghostly Twin 

A fogbow arcs across the foggy Murodo Plateau. This ghostly twin of the rainbow is born from the same optical phenomenon as its colorful sibling.

—Naila Zahra, University of Osaka, Japan

24 Apr 2026

Stress Revealed in Color 

A curved acetate sheet placed between crossed polarizers exhibits vivid interference colors due to stress-induced birefringence. Mechanical deformation creates anisotropy in the material, causing phase retardation between orthogonal polarization components of transmitted light. The resulting chromatic fringe patterns visualize internal stress distribution through photoelasticity and polarization-dependent optical interference.  

—Image by Nuria Vargas, under the supervision of advisor Ana Karen Reyes, Universidad Politecnica de Tulancingo, Mexico

17 Apr 2026

Spider Rainbow

Sunlight passing through a spider’s web diffracts into a rainbow of colors.    

—Robert Schalck, Optica Senior Member (Emeritus), North Bend, OR, USA

10 Apr 2026

Underwater Glow 

Under a beam of blue light, a plant inside a fish tank radiates with a vivid neon glow, creating a striking underwater scene filled with color and contrast.   

—Achini Ovitigala, Ph.D. Student, Mississippi State University, USA

03 Apr 2026

Beam Splitter Patterns

A red filter smaller than the illumination beam allows peripheral unfiltered light to reach a beam splitter, generating a yellow edge halo. The outgoing polarized beam produces sharp geometric images of the filter mount, replicated across the splitter faces due to internal reflections and optical beam division.    

—Image by José Armando Escamilla, Universidad Politécnica de Tulancingo, supervised by advisor Ana Karen Reyes in the lab of Noel Ivan Toto Arellano, Universidad Tecnológica de Tulancingo, Mexico

27 Mar 2026

Circular Clouds at Sunrise 

Unusual circular clouds in the vicinity of the sunrise create a beautiful early morning sky.

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

20 Mar 2026