Optimizing the superlens: Manipulating geometry to enhance the resolution

Podolskiy, Viktor A.; Kuhta, Nicholas A.; Milton, Graeme W.

doi:10.1063/1.2139620

Cited by 67 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…[5][6][7] Absorption is one of the largest problems that needs to be addressed to enable applications of NIMs. 8,9 A transfer of the near-field image into the SH frequency domain, where absorption is typically much less, was proposed in Refs. 10 and 11 as a means to overcome dissipative losses and thus enable the NIM-based superlens.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Compensating losses in negative-index metamaterials by optical parametric amplification

2006

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Optical parametric amplification controlled by the auxiliary electromagnetic field enables transparency, amplification, and oscillation with no cavity in strongly absorbing negative-index metamaterials. The opposite directions of the wave vector and the Poynting vector in such materials result in extraordinary optical properties, including "backward" phase matching and the generation of entangled pairs of left-and right-handed counterpropagating photons. © 2006 Optical Society of America OCIS code: 190.4410. Metamaterials with a negative refractive index (NIMs), also referred to as left-handed metamaterials (LHMs), exhibit highly unusual electromagnetic properties and promise a variety of novel applications, particularly for nonlinear optical phenomena. As shown recently, NIMs that include structural elements with nonsymmetric current-voltage characteristics can possess a nonlinear magnetic response at optical frequencies 1-3 and thus combine unprecedented linear and nonlinear electromagnetic properties. The opposite directions of the wave and Poynting vectors inherent for NIMs lead to extraordinary properties for basic optical processes in such metamaterials. The possibility of exact phase matching for waves with counterpropagating energy flows has been shown in Ref. 4 for the case of secondharmonic generation (SHG), when the fundamental wave is in the negative-index frequency domain while the SH wave is in the positive-index domain (PID). As seen from our considerations, phase matching of forward and backward waves is inherent for the nonlinear optics of NIMs. Important advantages of the interaction schemes involving counterdirected Poynting vectors in the process of optical parametric amplification for conventional right-handed materials (RHMs), also referred to as positive-index materials (PIMs), were discussed in early papers.5-7 However, in RHMs such schemes impose severe limitations on the frequencies of the coupled waves, because one of the waves must be in the far-infrared range in this case. [5][6][7] Absorption is one of the largest problems that needs to be addressed to enable applications of NIMs. 8,9 A transfer of the near-field image into the SH frequency domain, where absorption is typically much less, was proposed in Refs. 10 and 11 as a means to overcome dissipative losses and thus enable the NIM-based superlens. This Letter proposes an alternative means for compensating losses, by producing entire transparency amplification, or even lasing without a cavity in NIMs, with the aid of only one control auxiliary electromagnetic field. The underlying physical mechanism is based on optical parametric amplification (OPA), where a positive-index control field enables a loss-balancing OPA for a negativeindex signal wave. We also predict the possibility of the generation of entangled pairs of counterpropagating right-and left-handed photons.We assume a negative-index wave at 1 (signal; n 1 Ͻ 0) has a wave vector k 1 , which is directed along the z axis, and an energy flow S 1 , which is directed agai...

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confidence: 99%

Compensating losses in negative-index metamaterials by optical parametric amplification

2006

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“…Both for the quasistatic case [3] and for the full time harmonic Maxwell equations [17,18] it was shown that contrary to the conventional explanation where the field intensity has a minimum at the front interface of the lens, the field actually diverges to infinity in two anomalously resonant layers of width 2(d − d 0 ), one centered on the front interface and one centered on the back interface. Indications of large fields in front of the lens [16,19,20,21,22] were followed by definitive numerical evidence of enormous fields [23]. When d 0 < d/2 the resonant layers interfere with the source.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Opaque perfect lenses

Milton

Nicorovici

McPhedran

2007

Physica B: Condensed Matter

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The response of the "perfect lens", consisting of a slab of lossless material of thickness d with ε s = µ s = −1 at one frequency ω 0 is investigated. It is shown that as time progresses the lens becomes increasingly opaque to any physical TM line dipole source located at a distance d 0 < d/2 from the lens and which has been turned on at time t = 0. Here a physical source is defined as one which supplies a bounded amount of energy per unit time. In fact the lens cloaks the source so that it is not visible from behind the lens either. For sources which are turned on exponentially slowly there is an exact correspondence between the response of the perfect lens in the long time constant limit and the response of lossy lenses in the low loss limit. Contrary to the usual picture where the field intensity has a minimum at the front interface we find that the field diverges to infinity there in the long time constant limit.

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“…It includes the resonant contribution of surface modes with a finite in-plane wave vector k y and in the limit ǫ → −1, |k y | >> ω/c it is reduced to that obtained in Ref. [7] where the authors investigated the resolution limit of the slab of "negative" material with dielectric permittivity ǫ = −1 + iǫ ′′ and magnetic permeability µ = −1 + iµ ′′ . It should also be noted that the location (in k y wave vector space) of the two resonances not only depends on the absolute value of the dielectric constant ǫ but also the thickness of the slab d. For a very thin slab, the two resonances are separated (smaller slab thicknesses result in greater peak separation in k y space).…”

Section: Interference Of the Evanescent Waves And Effect Of Supermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The increased interest in properties of such media has been driven by their potential applications in various branches of science and technology. One possible application is related to the possibility of creating the so called superlens: a subwavelength optical imaging system without the diffraction limit [4,5,6,7]. The superlens phenomenon is essentially based on amplification of evanescent waves, facilitated by the excitation of the surface plasmons [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resonant transparency of materials with negative permittivity

Fourkal

Velchev

et al. 2007

Physics Letters A

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It is shown that the transparency of opaque material with negative permittivity exhibits resonant behavior. The resonance occurs as a result of the excitation of the surface waves at slab boundaries. Dramatic field amplification of the incident evanescent fields at the resonance improves the resolution of the the sub-wavelength imaging system (superlens). A finite thickness slab can be totally transparent to a p-polarized obliquely incident electromagnetic wave for certain values of the incidence angle and wave frequency corresponding to the excitation of the surface modes. At the resonance, two evanescent waves have a finite phase shift providing non-zero energy flux through the non-transparent region.

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Optimizing the superlens: Manipulating geometry to enhance the resolution

Cited by 67 publications

References 29 publications

Compensating losses in negative-index metamaterials by optical parametric amplification

Compensating losses in negative-index metamaterials by optical parametric amplification

Opaque perfect lenses

Resonant transparency of materials with negative permittivity

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