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Strong effect of surfaces on resolution limit of negative-index "superlens"

A. M. Bratkovsky·A. Cano·A. P. Levanyuk
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Abstract

We show that subwavelength imaging by negative index materials (NIM), related to their "soft" electromagnetic response, is very (and non trivially) sensitive to the surface properties. A minute deviation of dielectric permittivity epsilon or magnetic permeability mu from the ideal values epsilon = mu = -1 in thin surface layer(s) results in drastic reduction of the resolution limit of a NIM slab. There may be a gap in the polariton spectrum and this would allow establishment of a stationary regime even without losses.

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A. M. Bratkovsky, A. Cano, A. P. Levanyuk. 2005-01-22. Strong effect of surfaces on resolution limit of negative-index "superlens". https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2040012

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