Image of the Week
Striking images of optics and photonics, contributed by OPN readers
Fiber Speckle Pattern
Red laser light from the end-facet of a short sample of multimode polymer optical fiber was inspected on a black screen. The web pattern disappeared when optimizing the laser input coupling, with speckles from the expected guided modes available for further study, here seen in overlay.
—Dirk Voigt, Leiden, Netherlands
22 Nov 2024
Smartphone Diffraction
An incandescent light bulb illuminating a smartphone screen creates a colorful diffraction pattern due to the pixelated nature of the screen.
—Alok Kumar Pandey, Imagine Optic, Orsay, France
15 Nov 2024
Soap Bubble Interference
Image of soap bubbles on a finger exhibiting thin film interference from a backlight. There also is a top light to provide better light coverage. Photo taken with a Fujifilm X-T5 using a Fujinon 30 mm macro lens and processed with Adobe Lightroom. [Thanks to Mehmet Bütün for providing ideas for the photo.]
—Berke Köker, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey
08 Nov 2024
Fractals of Light
Chaotic scattering of light from a system made of four silvered spheres stacked like cannonballs to form a pyramid, inspired by E. Ott et al. Nature 399, 315 (1999).
—Andrea Aiello, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Erlangen, Germany
01 Nov 2024
Additive Color
Focused red, green and blue lasers visualised using graphite powder. The intersection of the beams appears white due to additive color mixing.
—Anatolii Kashchuk, Ukraine, Wiki Science Competition 2021; CC-BY-4.0
25 Oct 2024
Aurora Borealis
The aurora visible from southern Oregon, USA. The pole star Polaris can be seen just above the rays pointing toward it.
—Robert Schalck, Senior Member (Emeritus), North Bend, OR, USA
18 Oct 2024
Liquid Crystal Droplets
In a monodispersed liquid crystal (LC) microemulsion, LCs surrounded by an immiscible medium form a spherical shape due to surface tension.
—Ramesh Manda, University of Hyderabad, India
11 Oct 2024
Light in Sweet Media
Reflections of light from white LED strips on the shiny surface of caramelized strawberries. In an experiment, the reflections were analyzed using the principles of Möbius transformations.
— Alberto Tufaile, Soft Matter Lab, EACH, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
04 Oct 2024
Green Tunnel
Scattering produced by a 520-nm laser projected onto a 3D-printed cylinder creates a green tunnel that illuminates the printing layers. Image taken with a Nikon 5100, f/4.5, ISO 320.
— Baruc Zago Mazzocco, Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica Óptica y Electrónica, Puebla, Mexico
27 Sep 2024
Chemical Flowers
This photomicrograph reveals a floral-like pattern formed by absorption around a central nucleation point in a crystallizing chemical film. The observed colors arise from variations in the orientation and thickness of the crystal grains as viewed through crossed-polarizers and a wave plate. The intricate structure results from molecular charges.
—Karl Gaff, Art of Science Photography, Dublin, Ireland
20 Sep 2024
