Image of the Week
Striking images of optics and photonics, contributed by OPN readers
![Life Still Shining](https://opnmedia.blob.core.windows.net/$web/opn/media/images/imageoftheweek/2024/24-06-27_1.jpg?ext=.jpg)
Life Still Shining
Fluorescent image of a shriveled cabbage core, illuminated with a 375-nm-UV LED (NICHIA) and detected with a compact camera (RICHO, WG-6) through a UV-cut filter (Kenko Tokina, Zeta UVL41), exposure 1/4 s and ISO 6400.
—Yasunori Saito, formerly with Shinshu University, Nagano, Japan
28 Jun 2024
![Infinite Depth](https://opnmedia.blob.core.windows.net/$web/opn/media/images/imageoftheweek/2024/24-06-20.jpg?ext=.jpg)
Infinite Depth
At AYA, an immersive entertainment park in Dubai, UAE, a room filled with ever-changing LED stripes is completely lined with mirrors, giving the appearance of infinite depth.
—Michael Duncan, Senior Science Advisor, Optica
21 Jun 2024
![Green Fire](https://opnmedia.blob.core.windows.net/$web/opn/media/images/imageoftheweek/2024/24-06-13.jpg?ext=.jpg)
Green Fire
A light sheet generated with a laser passes through a turbulent flow of humid air.
—Emiliano Hernández Figueroa, Instituto de Energías Renovables de la UNAM, Temixco, Mexico
14 Jun 2024
![Euclid's Messier 78](https://opnmedia.blob.core.windows.net/$web/opn/media/images/imageoftheweek/2024/24-06-07.jpg?ext=.jpg)
Euclid's Messier 78
In this image released on 23 May 2024, ESA’s Euclid space mission peers deep into Messier 78 (the central and brightest region) using its infrared camera, exposing hidden regions of star formation for the first time.
—ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi
07 Jun 2024
![Rainbow Meets Monochrome](https://opnmedia.blob.core.windows.net/$web/opn/media/images/imageoftheweek/2024/24-05-31.jpg?ext=.jpg)
Rainbow Meets Monochrome
Light refracted through a glass door onto black-and-white tiles with geometric shapes creates a vivid spectrum.
—Edgar Guevara, CONAHCYT-UASLP, San Luis Potosi, Mexico
31 May 2024
![Droplets on Display](https://opnmedia.blob.core.windows.net/$web/opn/media/images/imageoftheweek/2024/24-05-24.jpg?ext=.jpg)
Droplets on Display
Close-up image of water droplets on a smartphone screen with a light gray background. The droplets show individual pixel colors and also reflect light sources in the room.
—Dirk Voigt, Ministry of Defence, Utrecht, Netherlands
24 May 2024
![Powerful Burst of Energy](https://opnmedia.blob.core.windows.net/$web/opn/media/images/imageoftheweek/2024/24-05-17.jpg?ext=.jpg)
Powerful Burst of Energy
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare, seen in the bright flash on the right, on 14 May 2024. It shows a subset of extreme UV light, colorized in red and yellow, that highlights the extremely hot material in flares.
—NASA/SDO
17 May 2024
![Colorful Scattering](https://opnmedia.blob.core.windows.net/$web/opn/media/images/imageoftheweek/2024/24-05-10.jpg?ext=.jpg)
Colorful Scattering
The scattering of light creates vivid colors in 12,479 hanging fibers representing 12,479 famous ancient Chinese paintings in a special exhibition at Jiaxing Culture & Art Centre, Jiaxing, China. [OPN 2023 Photo Contest]
—Zhijun Xu, Zhejiang University of Technology, Zhejiang, China
10 May 2024
![Plasma Ball](https://opnmedia.blob.core.windows.net/$web/opn/media/images/imageoftheweek/2024/24-05-03.jpg?ext=.jpg)
Plasma Ball
Light emissions due to the excitation and ionization of nitrogen gas make the spherical structure of a plasma blob visible in this image of a metallic microphone grill head.
—Brijesh Prithvi, UM-DAE Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
03 May 2024
![Laser-Induced Damage](https://opnmedia.blob.core.windows.net/$web/opn/media/images/imageoftheweek/2024/24-04-26.jpg?ext=.jpg)
Laser-Induced Damage
Self-destructive beauty: Image of laser-induced damage on an optical surface recorded with a Nomarski type microscope.
—Lidaris LIDT Service, European Science Photo Competition 2015, CC BY-SA 4.0
26 Apr 2024