Related papers: Limits for superfocusing with finite evanescent wa…
This is the second article in a series of two dealing with the concept of "resonant metalens" we introduced recently [Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 203901 (2010)]. It is a new type of lens capable of coding in time and radiating efficiently in the…
Conventional microscope objective lenses are diffraction limited, which means that they cannot resolve features smaller than half the illumination wavelength. Under white light illumination, such resolution limit is about 250-300 nm for an…
In this paper, we show by experiment that by covering a thin flat nonlinear lens on the sources, the sub-diffraction-limit observation can be achieved by measuring either the near-field distribution or the far-field radiation of the sources…
The smallest possible focus is achieved when the focused wave front is the time reversed copy of the light wave packet emitted from a point in space (S. Quabis et al., Opt. Commun. 179 (2000) 1-7). The best physical implementation of such a…
Negative refraction is known to occur in materials that simultaneously possess a negative electric permittivity and magnetic permeability; hence they are termed negative index materials. However, there are no known natural materials that…
It is shown that perfect imaging of a point source both in near- and far-field regions contradicts electrodynamics although ``superlensing'' is impossible only in the far-field region. These general statements are illustrated by detailed…
We derive a formula for the light field of a monochromatic plane wave that is truncated and reflected by a spherical mirror. Our formula is valid even for deep mirrors, where the aperture radius approaches the radius of curvature. We apply…
Optical absorption is usually considered deleterious, something to avoid if at all possible. We propose a broadband nanoabsorber that completely eliminates the diffracting wave, resulting in a subwavelength enhancement of the field.…
In recent years several far-field microscopy techniques have been developed which manage to overcome the diffraction limit of resolution. A unifying classification scheme for them is clearly desirable. We argue that existing schemes based…
The far-field resolution of optical imaging systems is restricted by the Abbe diffraction limit, a direct result of the wave nature of light. One successful technological approach to circumventing this limit is to reduce the effective size…
The existence of resonant enhanced transmission and collimation of light waves by subwavelength slits in metal films [for example, see T.W. Ebbesen et al., Nature (London) 391, 667 (1998) and H.J. Lezec et al., Science, 297, 820 (2002)]…
We carefully examine the negative refractive index slab perfect lens theory by Pendry and point out an inconsistency that can be resolved. As a result, we find negative index slabs do not amplify or enhance evanescent waves and therefore…
In this letter, we show how transformation optics makes it possible to design what we call conjugate metamaterials. We show that these materials can also serve as substrates for making a subwavelength-resolution lens. The so-called "perfect…
In an earlier paper we introduced the concept of the perfect lens which focuses both near and far electromagnetic fields, hence attaining perfect resolution. Here we consider refinements of the original prescription designed to overcome the…
It has been shown that a slab of materials with refractive index = -1 behaves like a perfect lens focussing all light to an exact electromagnetic copy of an object. The original lens is limited to producing images the same size as the…
This paper provides a theoretical analysis of diffraction-limited superresolution, demonstrating that arbitrarily close point sources can be resolved in ideal situations. Precisely, we assume that the incoming signal is a linear combination…
A new way to understand why some inhomogeneous dielectric medium can be used for confining the light wave has been given by using non-Euclidean transformation optics. We show that special inhomogeneous dielectric medium, which corresponds…
The present study deals with total internal reflection of a plane electromagnetic wave at an infinite plane boundary between a transparent medium and an amplifying or attenuating lower-index medium. Solutions of Maxwell's equations are…
Metasurfaces provide a compact, flexible, and reliable solution for controlling the wavefront of light. In imaging systems, micro-lens arrays are integrated with pixel matrices to reduce optical crosstalk, enhance photon collection…
We report on a matrix-based diffraction integral that evaluates the focal field of any diffraction-limited axisymmetric complex system. This diffraction formula is a generalization of the Debye integral applied to apertured focused beams,…