What is this close-up picture? (WotsThat: Soap film interference colours)

Question

What object is shown in this zoomed-in close-up photo?

MoonstoneDrift · Accepted Answer

Soap film interference colours. The colours you see swirling across a soap bubble aren't actually made by pigments—they're created by light waves bouncing between the soap film's two surfaces and either amplifying or cancelling each other out, which is why the colours shift and change as the film gets thinner. Even more wild: as a soap film drains and thins down to just a few hundred nanometers, it eventually reaches a point where it looks completely dark or black, not because there's no light, but because the film has become so thin that all wavelengths of visible light cancel each other out perfectly.

Answer: Soap film interference colours

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