Optimizing the Superlens: manipulating geometry to enhance the resolution

Abstract

We analyze the performance of a planar lens based on realistic negative index material in a generalized geometry. We demonstrate that the conventional superlens design (where the lens is centered between the object and the image) is not optimal from the resolution point-of-view, develop an analytical expression for the resolution limit of a generalized lens, use it to find the optimum lens configuration, and calculate the maximum absorption practical nearfield superlenses may have. We demonstrate that in contrast to the conventional superlens picture, planar imaging is typically accompanied by excitation of surface waves at both interfaces of the lens.

References in corpus (5)

• Limitations on Sub-Diffraction Imaging with a Negative Refractive Index Slab
• Non-magnetic left-handed material
• Near-sighted superlens
• Engineering Electromagnetic Properties of Periodic Nanostructures Using Electrostatic Resonances
• Comment on "Left-Handed Materials Do Not Make a Perfect Lens"

Cited by in corpus (10)

• Non-magnetic nano-composites for optical and infrared negative refraction index media
• Near-field imaging in the megahertz range by strongly coupled magnetoinductive surfaces: theoretical model and experimental validation
• Opaque perfect lenses
• Energy considerations for a superlens based on metal/dielectric multilayers
• Evanescent wave interference and the total transparency of a warm high-density plasma slab
• Plane-Wave Solutions to Frequency-Domain and Time-Domain Scattering from Magnetodielectric Slabs
• Impact of amplifying media on the Casimir force
• Far field imaging by a planar lens: diffraction versus superresolution
• Resonant transparency of materials with negative permittivity
• Energy and information flow in superlensing