Single DNG Interface Makes a Better Perfect Lens
Abstract
We show that a single-interface between regular and double-negative (DNG) media constitutes the core structure of a perfect lens and, furthermore, substantially outperforms the highly discussed DNG slab-based lens under imperfect conditions, maintaining unbounded resolution. We identify the perfect-lensing mechanism as the excitation of a Brewster (real improper) mode at the interface - a mode with a completely flat-band dispersion at media-matching conditions, perfectly transferring all incident waves including evanescent. A lossless DNG slab retains the single-interface perfect-lensing characteristics solely because such a Brewster mode excited at the front (input) slab interface merges in a non-interacting fashion with a confined surface-mode at the rear (output) - thereby preserving its original flat-band dispersion. While the single interface perfect lens retains its high resolution under loss, imperfect media-matching and off-resonance excitations, the DNG slab lens performance rapidly deteriorates under such conditions due to excitation of the symmetric and anti-symmetric slab surface-modes.
- Publication:
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arXiv e-prints
- Pub Date:
- January 2013
- DOI:
- 10.48550/arXiv.1301.0105
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1301.0105
- Bibcode:
- 2013arXiv1301.0105R
- Keywords:
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- Condensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics;
- Physics - Optics