Negative Refraction and Superresolution Using Transparent Metallo-Dielectric Stacks

Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2006

Department

Program

Citation of Original Publication

Scalora, Michael; et al.; Negative Refraction and Superresolution Using Transparent Metallo-Dielectric Stacks; Photonic Metamaterials: From Random to Periodic Technical Dgest (CD) (Optical Society of America, 2006), paper ThC1; https://www.osapublishing.org/abstract.cfm?uri=META-2006-ThC1

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Public Domain Mark 1.0
This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.

Subjects

Abstract

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 exhibit a negative index of refraction. In large part, interest in these materials is due to speculation that they could be used as perfect lenses with superresolution. We propose a new way of achieving negative refraction with currently available technology, based on transparent, metallodielectric multilayer structures. The advantage of these structures is that both tunability and transmission (well above 50%) can be achieved in the visible wavelength regime. We demonstrate both negative refraction and sub-wavelength resolution in these structures. Our findings point to a simpler way to fabricate a material that exhibits negative refraction. This opens up an entirely new path not only for negative refraction, but also to expand the exploration of wave propagation effects in metals.