Far-Field Optical Hyperlens Magnifying Sub-Diffraction-Limited Objects

Liu, Zhaowei; Lee, Hyesog; Xiong, Yi; Sun, Cheng; Zhang, Xiang

doi:10.1126/science.1137368

Cited by 2,077 publications

(1,457 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The first one-dimensional (1D) optical hyperlens was demonstrated at ultraviolet frequencies by conformal deposition of Ag and Al 2 O 3 multilayer films on a cylindrical quartz cavity (Fig. 1a) 13,38 . A subdiffraction-limited object with a 130-nm centre-to-centre distance was observed directly in the far field (Fig.…”

Section: Experimental Hyperlens Demonstration and Recent Advancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Anisotropic metamaterials with either a hyperbolic or eccentric elliptic dispersion are essential for supporting the propagation of super-resolution information carried by high wave-vectors. The hyperlens and the metalens thus share the same material requirement, with practical realizations including multilayers 13 and nanowire metamaterials 22 . On the other hand, as high wave-vector waves are totally reflected at the metamaterial-air interface, a bidirectional coupler is needed to convert waves from high wave-vectors in the metamaterial to low wave-vectors in air, and vice versa.…”

Section: Principles Of the Metalensmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This has provided tremendous opportunities for novel lens designs with unprecedented resolution 9 . Initiated by Pendry's seminal concept of the perfect lens 10 , a number of superlenses were demonstrated with resolving powers beyond the diffraction limit [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] . The optical superlens first achieved sub-diffraction-limited resolution by enhancing evanescent waves through a slab of silver 11 .…”

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Hyperlenses and metalenses for far-field super-resolution imaging

2012

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The resolution of conventional optical lens systems is always hampered by the diffraction limit. Recent developments in artificial metamaterials provide new avenues to build hyperlenses and metalenses that are able to image beyond the diffraction limit. Hyperlenses project super-resolution information to the far field through a magnification mechanism, whereas metalenses not only super-resolve subwavelength details but also enable optical Fourier transforms. Recently, there have been numerous designs for hyperlenses and metalenses, bringing fresh theoretical and experimental advances, though future directions and challenges remain to be overcome.O ptical microscopy has revolutionized many fields such as microelectronics, biology and medicine. However, the resolution of a conventional optical lens system is always limited by diffraction to about half the wavelength of light. This diffraction barrier arises from the fact that subwavelength information from an object is carried by high spatial-frequency evanescent waves, which only exist in the near field. To overcome this diffraction limit, pioneering work has been carried out, including near-field scanning microscopy 1 , as well as fluorescence-based imaging methods 2,3 . These scanning-or random sampling-based nonprojection techniques achieve super-resolving power by sacrificing imaging speed, making them uncompetitive for dynamic imaging.Lens-based projection imaging remains the best option for high-speed microscopy. Immersion techniques have been proposed to enhance resolution, but they are limited by the low refractive indices of natural materials 4 . Emerging within the last decade, the fields of plasmonics and metamaterials provide solutions for engineering extraordinary material properties not found in nature, such as negative index of refraction 5,6 or strongly anisotropic materials 7,8 . This has provided tremendous opportunities for novel lens designs with unprecedented resolution 9 . Initiated by Pendry's seminal concept of the perfect lens 10 , a number of superlenses were demonstrated with resolving powers beyond the diffraction limit [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] . The optical superlens first achieved sub-diffraction-limited resolution by enhancing evanescent waves through a slab of silver 11 . As the evanescent-field enhancement is enabled by surface plasmon excitation, the subwavelength image is typically limited to the near field of the metal slab. However, the hyperlens-a metamaterial-based lens-can send super-resolution images into the far field by introducing a magnification mechanism. This has been considered as one of the most promising candidates for practical applications since its first demonstration in 2007 (refs 13,14). Recently, various other metamaterial-based lenses, that is, metalenses, have also been developed with both

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Section: Experimental Hyperlens Demonstration and Recent Advancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Principles Of the Metalensmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hyperlenses and metalenses for far-field super-resolution imaging

2012

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“…The electrically anisotropic material discussed here can be easily fabricated in GHz frequencies by a composite of periodically arranged metallic thin wires aligned along the optical axis. In optical region, the anisotropic indefinite media had been experimentally fabricated based on a composite of altering layers of dielectric and metal [19], and it had become a research-focus recently because of its application in far-field imaging [17][18][19]. Our result here may solve the ambiguity of indefinite media resulted from the sudden change of k-surface in the lossless case and find some practical application in designing of new devices such as high directive antennas and etc.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 73%

Transition Behavior of K-Surface: From Hyperbola to Ellipse

Qiao¹,

Zheng²,

Zhang³

et al. 2008

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Abstract-The transition behavior of the k-surface of a lossy anisotropic indefinite slab is investigated. It is found that, if the material loss is taken into account, the k-surface does not show a sudden change from hyperbola to the ellipse when one principle element of the permittivity tensor changes from negative to positive. In fact, after introducing a small material loss, the shape of the k-surface can be a combination of a hyperbola and an ellipse, and a selective high directional transmission can be obtained in such a slab.

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“…However, it is difficult to realize the spot below diffraction limit due to the optical diffraction limit effect. In order to break through the diffraction limit, lots of ways to obtain super-resolution non-diffraction beam were presented and discussed such as hyperlens and super-oscillatory lens [9][10][11], utilizing superlens to turn evanescent waves into propagating waves and obtain subwavelength imaging [12,13], handling of the evanescent waves with near field diffraction structures [2,14], and super-resolution apodization through pupil masks [14][15][16][17][18]. In these methods, the superresolution pupil filters (or phase plates) with amplitude and phase modulations are always hot subjects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Creation of Super-Resolution Non-Diffraction Beam by Modulating Circularly Polarized Lightwith Ternary Optical Element

Wei¹,

Zha²,

Gan³

2013

PIER

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Abstract-In order to obtain a super-resolution non-diffraction beam, we propose a fast searching method to design a ternary optical element combined with the circularly polarized light. The optimized results show that a beam with a spot size of 0.356λ and depth of focus of 8.28λ can be achieved by focusing with an oil lens of numerical aperture N A = 1.4 and refractive index of oil n = 1.5. The analysis reveals that the spot size of transverse component is 0.273λ, indicating that the super-resolution effect mainly comes from the transverse component. The spot size inside the media can theoretically reach down to 0.273λ because the spot size inside the media is mainly determined by the transverse component.

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Far-Field Optical Hyperlens Magnifying Sub-Diffraction-Limited Objects

Cited by 2,077 publications

References 12 publications

Hyperlenses and metalenses for far-field super-resolution imaging

Hyperlenses and metalenses for far-field super-resolution imaging

Transition Behavior of K-Surface: From Hyperbola to Ellipse

Creation of Super-Resolution Non-Diffraction Beam by Modulating Circularly Polarized Lightwith Ternary Optical Element

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