Negative Refraction Makes a Perfect Lens
Open accessAbstract
With a conventional lens sharpness of the image is always limited by the wavelength of light. An unconventional alternative to a lens, a slab of negative refractive index material, has the power to focus all Fourier components of a 2D image, even those that do not propagate in a radiative manner. Such "superlenses" can be realized in the microwave band with current technology. Our simulations show that a version of the lens operating at the frequency of visible light can be realized in the form of a thin slab of silver. This optical version resolves objects only a few nanometers across.
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The signs of permittivity and permeability determine the chirality of electromagnetic wave in optical media: the electric field, magnetic field and wave vector obey the right-handed or left-handed triad.
“The signs of permittivity and permeability determine the chirality of electromagnetic wave in optical media: the electric field, magnetic field and the wave vector obey the right-handed or left-handed triad.”
From Photonic simulation of topological excitations in metamaterials (2014) · cites this paper as [9]
In the passage discussing equations (9)–(12), Pendry says that negative permittivity and permeability require a negative refractive index and a wave vector directed opposite to energy transport. Our copy does not explicitly describe the electric field, magnetic field, and wave vector as right- or left-handed triads, so it supports the underlying reversal but not the full stated formulation. The supplied copy labels this passage “Abstract” and gives no page number. (LLM, conf=0.80)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredFor ordinary nonmagnetic optical materials with εr > μr = 1, the electromagnetic wave obeys the right-handed rule with a positive effective mass m > 0, while double-negative or left-handed metamaterials with εr < μr < 0 have a negative mass m < 0 and obey the left-handed rule.
“For ordinary (nonmagnetic) optical materials εr > μr = 1, the electromagnetic wave obeys the right-handed rule with a positive effective mass m > 0 while the double-negative or left-handed metamaterials with εr < μr < 09 have a negative mass m < 0 and obey the left-handed rule.”
From Photonic simulation of topological excitations in metamaterials (2014) · cites this paper as [9]
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- Authors
- Pendry, J. B.
- Affiliations
- Imperial College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Pendry, J. B.
- ORCID
- Pendry, J. B.
- Venue
- Physical Review Letters
- Publisher
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Published
- 2000-10-30
- Volume
- 85
- Issue
- 18
- Pages
- 3966-3969
- ISSN
- 0031-9007 (ISSN-L)
- 1079-7114
- OpenAlex
- W2122765624
- Cited by
- 12,159
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 189 · 2025: 305 · 2024: 352 · 2023: 355 · 2022: 456 · 2021: 486 · 2020: 462 · 2019: 558 · 2018: 565 · 2017: 576 · 2016: 634 · 2015: 607 · 2014: 622 · 2013: 667 · 2012: 758
- FWCI
- 69.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Physical Review Letters (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, public-domain)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (cc-by)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials › Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Plasmonic and Surface Plasmon Research
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Near-Field Optical Microscopy
- Keywords
- negative refraction, perfect lens, superlens, left-handed materials, subwavelength imaging, Fourier components, nanoscale resolution, visible light
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