Image of the Week

Birefringent Flower

An arrangement of plastic flutes between a linear- and a circular-polarizer. The colors represent wavelength-dependent retardance paths that rotate the polarization orientation through different angles. [Honorable mention, 2018 After Image photo contest.]

—Samuel F. Pellicori, Senior Member OSA

14 Jan 2019

Three spheres trapped in white light

Calculated intensity as particles are added reveals that each of the particles gives rise to a new power maximum near the place where the next particle settles. [Honorable mention 2018 After Image photo contest.]

—Shai Maayani, MIT

07 Jan 2019

Jellyfish

Light emanates from jellyfish at the Kyoto Aquarium, Japan. Image was captured using a Canon EOS kiss x7i camera.

—Chiaki Fukui, Wakayama University, Japan

31 Dec 2018

Optical Levitodynamics

A tightly focused laser beam from a microscope objective is used to levitate a single nanoparticle in vacuum and detect its dynamics. The electric field from two electrodes allows to accurately measure the mass of the particle to the sub-femtogram scale (the mass of a small virus) and its charge down to the single electron level, making the system an ultra sensitive force nano-sensor.” [Third place winner (tie), 2018 After Image photo contest.]

—Francesco F. Ricci, ICFO-Institute of Photonics Sciences, Barcelona

24 Dec 2018

Dust on a silicon substrate

The image shows a chunk of dust on a silicon substrate with nanowire-like structure on the the surface, which resembles a meteorite falling on a forest. The surface is coated with chromium for better resolution in SEM. [Third place winner (tie), 2018 After Image photo contest.]

—Bingtao Gao, Univeristy of Iowa

17 Dec 2018

Engagement ring sparkle

The sparkles from my wife’s engagement ring are visualized by a collimated supercontinuum laser incident normal to the largest diamond in the ring. A piece of paper is used to trace out the beam in this long exposure image. Small rainbow beams can be seen shooting away from the stone, proof that the dispersive design of the diamond is doing its job. [Second place winner, 2018 After Image photo contest.]

—Benjamin Cromey, University of Arizona

10 Dec 2018

From Blue to Green

A blue/UV laser pointer was coupled into the handle of a cup, which guides the light and feeds it into a fluorescing liquid that lights up in green colors. The surrounding lab environment was darkened completely to highlight the effect. The image was taken in the lab at Leibniz-IPHT Jena. [Winning entry, 2018 After Image photo contest.]

—Tobias Tieß, Leibniz-IPHT, Germany

03 Dec 2018

Ribbons of Light

Late afternoon sunlight, randomly reflecting from the surface of a shallow swimming pool, creates ribbons of light and color. My young daughter was responsible for the waves. This image was captured with a Samsung Galaxy S4 camera—4.2-mm focal length, f/2.2, 1/320-s exposure, and ISO 50.

—Milo W. Hyde, Air Force Institute of Technology

26 Nov 2018

Near-Field SPP

Simulation of the near field of a decoupling surface plasmon polariton (SPP) excited in a gold sub-lambda double-periodicity diffraction grating. In the image, an incident (more intense) Gaussian beam is observed. The specularly reflected beam with spatial distribution deformed by the excitation of the SPP (like a double beam) is also seen, as well as the decoupled light (second, more intense beam) and the plasmon traveling to the left on the surface (enhanced backscattering of light).

—Juan D Castrillón-Gómez, CICESE - México

19 Nov 2018

The Great Salt Alignment

The reflection of the sun, as it sets over Stansbury Island in the Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA, casts a long but one-side-truncated strip across the lake. The aligned viewing scope projects two images of the sun that can be viewed from a distance. (Photo taken on 27 July 2018 using a smartphone with its default photo setting.)

—Daqing Piao, Oklahoma State University

12 Nov 2018

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