Subwavelength Imaging
Abstract
The imaging properties of a uniaxial anisotropic slab lens, where the dielectric tensor components are of opposite sign, are studied as a function of the structure parameters. While hypothetical parameters yield various levels of performance, a design principle to achieve good sub-wavelength resolution is suggested. The anisotropy can be implemented with a metal-insulator stack. The influence of material and thickness on the subwavelength imaging performance of a negative dielectric constant slab is studied. Resonance in the plane wave transfer function produces a high spatial frequency ripple that could be useful in fabricating periodic structures. A cost function based on the plane wave transfer function provides a useful metric to evaluate the planar slab lens performance, and using this, the optimal slab dielectric constant can be determined. Prospects for a lossless negative dielectric constant material for optical devices are studied. Simulations show that with sufficient gain, a mixture of two semiconductor quantum dots can produce an isotropic effective dielectric constant that is lossless and negative. Over length scales where homogenization is meaningful, this permits a small-scale optical mode volume and lossless waveguides, major goals in the field of nanophotonics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 12, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA500587
Entities
People
- Alon Ludwig
- Huikan Liu
- Kevin J. Webb
- S. Schivanand
Organizations
- Purdue University