Phys. Rev. |
Volume B67, Page
201101 |
2003 |
Optical
gain removes absorption and increases resolution in a near-field lens
S. Anantha Ramakrishna and J.B. Pendry
A recent paper showed how to construct a lens that focuses near field radiation and hence produce resolution unlimited by wavelength. The prescription requires lossless materials with negative refractive index: finite loss cuts off the finer details of the image. In this paper we suggest compensating for losses by introducing optical gain media into the lens design. Calculations demonstrate a dramatic improvement in performance for a silver/gain composite medium at optical frequencies.
This paper is available as a PDF file.