Enhanced twinkling in left-handed media

Abstract

A slab of left-handed material (LHM) with refractive index -1 forms a perfect lens that retains subwavelength information about a source or object. Such lenses are highly susceptible to perturbations affecting their performance. It is shown that illuminating a roughened interface between air and an LHM produces a regime for enhanced focusing of light close to the boundary. This generates caustics that are brighter, fluctuate more, and cause Gaussian speckle at distances closer to the interface than in right-handed matter. These effects present fresh challenges for perfecting the perfect lens.