​Blood-brain barrier

Blood-brain barrier in a live zebrafish embryo (20x). First Place 2012 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition.

—Jennifer L. Peters and Michael R. Taylor, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tenn., USA

29 Jun 2016

Dust Particle

A single dust particle on a tapered nanofiber. 

—Di Chang, University of Calgary, Canada

30 May 2016

Striking patterns

A periodic array of micromirrors, acting as diffraction gratings, forms a striking pattern when illuminated with a laser, showing several orders with varying intensities. 

—Gerald John H. Doblado, National Institute of Physics, University of the Philippines Diliman

29 Apr 2016

UV light from a dye laser

UV light from a dye laser forms emission patterns in green dye, through a thin metal film on cracked polymethyl methacrylate (imaged with 20× microscope objective in reflection geometry). — Tal Galfsky, City University of New York, USA

28 Mar 2016

Silicon photonics

Silicon photonics wafer containing various WDM optical circuits, with coloration from diffraction of illuminating light. 

—G. de Valicourt and P. Jennevé, Bell Laboratories, Nokia

29 Feb 2016

Spherical Aberrations

A hemispherical lens highlights spherical aberrations. A red laser and a green laser, together with a pair of diffraction gratings, form an array of horizontal and vertical rays. The ray caustic can clearly be seen to the right of the lens. 

—Chris Summitt, College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona, USA

28 Jan 2016

Starry night

Starry night over Kauai. 

—Michael D. Duncan, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory

04 Jan 2016

A water droplet bounces

A water droplet bounces off of a superhydrophobic titanium surface, created via femtosecond laser processing. The research behind the image (p. 57), led by Chunlei Guo of the University of Rochester, is one of 30 findings highlighted in OPN’s “Optics in 2015” review. [Photo by J. Adam Fenster/University of Rochester] 

—Chunlei Guo, Chunlei Guo

04 Jan 2016

Diffraction pattern of white LED flashlight

The image was captured by illuminating a diffraction goggle with a LED torch. The white zero order term is easily visible, along with other diffraction orders. All the diffraction terms (except for zero order) show the different wavelengths diffracted at different angle (longer wavelength diffraction at higher angle).  — Manish Kumar, University of Michigan, USA

29 Oct 2015