Negative Refraction Makes a Perfect Lens

TL;DR

The authors' simulations show that a version of the lens operating at the frequency of visible light can be realized in the form of a thin slab of silver, which resolves objects only a few nanometers across.

Abstract

With a conventional lens sharpness of the image is always limited by the wavelength of light. An unconventional alternative to a lens, a slab of negative refractive index material, has the power to focus all Fourier components of a 2D image, even those that do not propagate in a radiative manner. Such super lenses can be realised in the microwave band with current technology and a version operating at the frequency of visible light, but at short distances of a few nanometres, can be realised in the form of a thin slab of silver as our simulations show.

Figures (2)

• Figure 1: A negative refractive index medium bends light to a negative angle with the surface normal. Light formerly diverging from a point source is set in reverse and converges back to a point. Released from the medium the light reaches a focus for a second time.
• Figure 2: Top: plan view of the new lens in operation. A quasi-electrostatic potential in the object plane is imaged by the action of a silver lens. Bottom: The electrostatic field in the object plane is shown on the left. On the right is the electrostatic field in the image plane with and without the silver slab in place. The reconstruction would be perfect were it not for finite absorption in the silver.