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2012 Gallery

Optics and Photonics Image of the Week RSSRSS

  1. Mountain Sun

    Sunlight over the snow-capped Himalayas, recorded on a CCD camera. Manoj Ku Mridha

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  2. Dynamic Freeze

    Cracks and bubbles in the frozen surface of Lake Alpine, Calif., U.S.A. Csaba Toth, LBNL, Berkeley, Calif., U.S.A.

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  3. Mirror Image

    Perfect reflection at Badwater Basin, Death Valley, Calif., U.S.A. Philipp Jester

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  4. Rope of Water

    Refraction of sunlight and surrounding scene in a twisted jet of water. Philipp Jester



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  5. Optical Storage

    Diffraction off the surface of a compact disc. Ricardo Torres, Centro de Láseres Pulsados



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  6. Laser Processing

    A sample is processed by a femtosecond laser: The pulses are focused by means of a microscope objective inside the sample, what allows to modify some of the material properties. Rocio Borrego-Varillas, Universidad de Salamanca

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  7. Missing Shadow 1

    Third place: The flames lack a shadow, as all of the weak plasmas are transparent in the visible. Zoltán György Horváth, Wigner Research Center for Physics, Hungary

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  8. Missing Shadow 2

    The flames lack a shadow, as all of the weak plasmas are transparent in the visible. Zoltán György Horváth, Wigner Research Center for Physics, Hungary

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  9. "Wolf" Moon

    The “wolf” moon is a full moon that occurs in January. Robert E. Schalck, Hardin Optical, U.S.A.

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  10. Moon Glow Clouds

    The moon peaks behind clouds in a nighttime scene. Robert E. Schalck, Hardin Optical, U.S.A.

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  11. Rainbow Tree

    Fall colors of a maple tree. Robert E. Schalck, Hardin Optical, U.S.A.

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  12. Happy Holidays

    Holidays lights through an optical grating. Robert E. Schalck, Hardin Optical, U.S.A.

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  13. UV Rocks

    Franklinite under UV light. Robert E. Schalck, Hardin Optical, U.S.A.

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  14. Transit of Venus

    The transit of Venus in the clouds. Robert E. Schalck, Hardin Optical, U.S.A.

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  15. Through the Fresnel Lens

    Looking out over the Lower New York Bay from inside Sandy Hook Lighthouse, the oldest working lighthouse in the United States. Scott A. Holmstrom, University of Tulsa, U.S.A.

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  16. Beautifully Misaligned

    Reflection of 532-nm laser light misaligned on a sapphire fiber and captured by a CCD. Elizabeth F. Cloos, University of Michigan, U.S.A.

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  17. Orange Glow

    A glorious play of colors makes for a dreamy sunset. Thomas Ganz, Femtolasers Produktions GmbH

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  18. Green Marvel

    Second Place: A green laser sent through a diffraction grating and then refracted through a glass sphere. Page King, College of Optical Sciences, Tucson Ariz., U.S.A.

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  19. Generating Supercontinuum

    Honorable Mention: A diffractive lens is used to focus near infrared femtosecond pulses in a sapphire plate for tunable supercontinuum generation. Rocio Borrego-Varillas, Universidad de Salamanca, Spain.

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  20. Laser Tool

    Gas jets are widely used as targets for laser acceleration experiments and their characterization is crucial to optimize the process. In this setup, the change in the wavefront of a HeNe laser is used to measure the gas density. Rocio Borrego-Varillas, Universidad de Salamanca, Spain.

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  21. Streams of Color 1

    Winner: Laser beams of three primary colors are guided inside streams of liquid into a ceramic bowl, where they combine to form white light (vertical crop). Alexander R. Albrecht, University of New Mexico, U.S.A.

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  22. Streams of Color 2

    Laser beams of three primary colors are guided inside streams of liquid into a ceramic bowl, where they combine to form white light (horizontal crop). Alexander R. Albrecht, University of New Mexico, U.S.A.

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  23. Streams of Color 3

    Laser beams of three primary colors are guided inside streams of liquid into a ceramic bowl, where they combine to form white light. Alexander R. Albrecht, University of New Mexico

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  24. Reflections on Rocks

    Dance of elegant colors from sunlight reflection off the sculptured rocks in Antelope Canyon of Arizona. Yuhong  Yao, Institute of Optics, University of Rochester

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  25. Microtoroid

    Collapse of a microtoroid. Simin Mehrabani, University of Southern California, U.S.A.

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  26. Yin and Yang on a Silicon Chip

    CO2 reflow of a defected microdisk. Simin Mehrabani, University of Southern California, U.S.A.

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  27. Blue Fish

    Blue laser light scattering from a tapered optical fiber and a microtoroid. Simin Mehrabani, University of Southern California, U.S.A.



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  28. Rings of Light

    Light rings on a microtoroid. Simin Mehrabani, University of Southern California

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  29. Micro Globe

    Silica sol-gel creates a 2-D Earth globe on silicon chip. Simin Mehrabani, University of Southern California, U.S.A.

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  30. Smiling Microtoroid

    A defected microdisk smiles after being CO2 reflowed. Simin Mehrabani, University of Southern California, U.S.A.

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  31. The Conch

    Ytterbium-doped silica sol-gel microdisk reflowed with a CO2 laser. Kelvin Kuo, University of Southern California, U.S.A.

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  32. Van Vogh's Ear

    Honorable Mention: Ytterbium-doped silica sol-gel microdisk reflowed with a CO2 laser. Kelvin Kuo, University of Southern California, U.S.A.

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  33. Micropotting

    Ytterbium-doped silica sol-gel microdisk reflowed with a CO2 laser. Kelvin Kuo, University of Southern California, U.S.A.



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  34. The Heart of Resonance

    Ytterbium-doped silica sol-gel spun ontop of a thermal oxide microtoroid. Kelvin Kuo, University of Southern California, U.S.A.

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  35. Micro-Desert

    Ytterbium doped silica sol-gel spun ontop of a thermal oxide microtoroid. Kelvin Kuo, University of Southern California

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  36. Mercury Spectrum

    Spectra of light coming from a mercury lamp given by a spectrometer having a Ronchi grating as a dispersive element. Sergio Calixto, Centro de Investigaciones en Optica, Mexico

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  37. Cloud Comet

    Rare singular altocumulus cloud at sunset in Santa Barbara, 18 mm f.l. lens. Samuel F. Pellicori, Pellicori Optical Consulting, U.S.A.

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  38. Water Spheres

    Honorable Mention: Hydrophobicity demonstrated by an agave leaf. High contact angle causes condensed dew to be shed completely and collected at the plant's core. macro lens. Samuel F. Pellicori, Pellicori Optical Consulting, U.S.A.



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  39. CD Optics

    Solar spectrum diffracted by a compact disk and aberrated by a lens array. Macro lens. Samuel F. Pellicori, Pellicori Optical Consulting, U.S.A.

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  40. Array of Color

    Lens array images of diffracted solar spectrum. macro lens. Samuel F. Pellicori, Pellicori Optical Consulting, U.S.A.

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  41. Cracked

    Stress pattern in a dichroic coated art glass bowl (by T. Ives). Samuel F. Pellicori, Pellicori Optical Consulting, U.S.A.



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  42. Full Spectrum

    Solar spectrum diffracted by a compact disk and aberrated by a lens array. #2. macro lens. Samuel F. Pellicori, Pellicori Optical Consulting, U.S.A.

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  43. Inside the Engine

    View of an ethanol-powered combustion chamber of a Stirling motor. Dan Curticapean, University of Applied Sciences Offenburg, Germany



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  44. Flower of Light

    The photo shows 32 superimposed images of plasma discharging in a tube, which were then subjected to a polar coordinate transformation. The initial plasma discharging was recorded at the Swiss Science Center Technorama. Dan Curticapean, University of Applied Sciences Offenburg, Germany

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  45. Shining Bismuth

    Optical effects on the surface of a corrugated laser-processed sheet of bismuth telluride. Matthias Feinaeugle, Optoelectronics Research Centre, United Kingdom

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  46. Scratched Coating

    Color effects around a scratch in an optical coating. Matthias Feinaeugle, Optoelectronics Research Centre, United Kingdom

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