Optical microscopy is an invaluable tool for studies of materials and biological entities. With the current progress in nanotechnology and microbiology imaging tools with ever increasing spatial resolution are required. However, the spatial resolution of the conventional microscopy is limited by the diffraction of light waves to a value of the order of 200 nm. Thus, viruses, proteins, DNA molecules and many other samples are impossible to visualize using a regular microscope. The new ways to overcome this limitation may be based on the concept of superlens introduced by J. Pendry [1]. This concept relies on the use of materials which have negative refractive index in the visible frequency range. Even though superlens imaging has been demonstrated in recent experiments [2], this technique is still limited by the fact that magnification of the planar superlens is equal to 1.In this communication we introduce a new design of the magnifying superlens and demonstrate it in the experiment. Our design has some common features with the recently proposed "optical hyperlens" [3], "metamaterial crystal lens" [4], and the plasmon-assisted microscopy technique [5]. The internal structure of the magnifying superlens is shown in Fig

Metamaterials have been already used to model various exotic "optical spaces". Here we demonstrate that mapping of monochromatic extraordinary light distribution in a hyperbolic metamaterial along some spatial direction may model the "flow of time". This idea is illustrated in experiments performed with plasmonic hyperbolic metamaterials. Appearance of the "statistical arrow of time" is examined in an experimental scenario which emulates a Big Bang-like event.OCIS codes: (160.3918) Metamaterials Nature of time has been a major subject of science, philosophy, and religion. Our everyday experiences tell us that time has a direction. On the other hand, most laws of physics appear to be symmetric with respect to time reversal. A few exceptions include the second law of thermodynamics, which states that entropy must increase over time, and the cosmological arrow of time, which points away from the Big Bang. While it is generally believed that the statistical and the cosmological arrows of time are connected, we cannot replay the Big Bang and prove this relationship in the experiment.Fortunately, it appears that electromagnetic metamaterials may provide us with interesting tools to better understand this relationship.

Optical microscopy is an invaluable tool for studies of materials and biological entities. With the current progress in nanotechnology and microbiology imaging tools with ever increasing spatial resolution are required. However, the spatial resolution of the conventional microscopy is limited by the diffraction of light waves to a value of the order of 200 nm. Thus, viruses, proteins, DNA molecules and many other samples are impossible to visualize using a regular microscope. The new ways to overcome this limitation may be based on the concept of superlens introduced by J. Pendry [1]. This concept relies on the use of materials which have negative refractive index in the visible frequency range. Even though superlens imaging has been demonstrated in recent experiments [2], this technique is still limited by the fact that magnification of the planar superlens is equal to 1.In this communication we introduce a new design of the magnifying superlens and demonstrate it in the experiment. Our design has some common features with the recently proposed "optical hyperlens" [3], "metamaterial crystal lens" [4], and the plasmon-assisted microscopy technique [5]. The internal structure of the magnifying superlens is shown in Fig

Fluorescence from a layer of Rhodamine 6G (R6G) is observed to be enhanced strongly if a dielectric grating deposited onto a gold film is used as a substrate. The fluorescence enhancement has been studied as a function of the grating periodicity and the angle of incidence of the excitation light. The enhancement mechanism is consistent with excitation of surface-plasmon-polaritons on the metal film surface. The observed phenomenon may be promising in sensing applications.

Metamaterials provide unprecedented freedom and flexibility in the creation of new structures, which control electromagnetic wave propagation in very unusual ways. Very recently various theoretical designs for an electromagnetic cloak were suggested and an experimental realization of a partial cloak operating in a two-dimensional cylindrical geometry were reported in the microwave frequency range. We report on an experimental two-dimensional reduced visibility structure that approximates the distribution of the radial component of the dielectric permittivity necessary to achieve nonmagnetic cloaking in the visible frequency range.