Picture perfect
Ronan Daly and Alfonso Castrejon-Pita from the Inkjet Research Centre have won the 2012 Carl Zeiss Photography Competition at the Department of Engineering.
Their stunning optical microscopy image shows the drying and cracking of a film formed when an aklyl ketene dimer (AKD) dispersion is deposited and dried on a glass microscope slide. AKD is a waxy material often used in industry to treat paper and improve the quality of inkjet printing by reducing the spread of ink drops.
There were hundreds of entries to the competition and the standard was so high that the judges commented that the winning images would hold their own in Tate Modern. To see some of the other entries go to: www.flickr.com/photos/cambridgeuniversity-engineering/sets/72157630127132244/
