Experimental Demonstration of Non-Resonant Hyperlens in the Visible Range

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a non-resonant hyperlens operating in the visible spectrum, overcoming previous bandwidth and loss limitations through a radial fan-shaped design that relies on non-resonant negative dielectric response.

Contribution

It presents the first experimental realization of a broadband, low-loss non-resonant hyperlens in the visible range using a radial fan-shaped configuration.

Findings

Achieved broadband, low-loss hyperlens performance in the visible range.

Radial fan-shaped design outperforms concentric layer configurations.

Utilized non-resonant negative dielectric response for improved performance.

Abstract

A metamaterial hyperlens offers a unique solution to overcome the diffraction limit by transforming evanescent waves responsible for imaging subwavelength features of an object into propagating waves. However, the first realizations of optical hyperlenses were limited by a narrow working bandwidth and significant resonance-induced loss. Here, we report the first experimental demonstration of a non-resonant waveguide-coupled hyperlens operating in the visible wavelength range. A detailed investigation of various materials systems proves that a radial fan-shaped configuration is superior to the concentric layer-based configuration in that it relies on non-resonant negative dielectric response, and, as a result, enables broadband and low-loss performance in the visible range.