Finite-size effects of a left-handed material slab on the image quality

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the finite size of a left-handed material slab affects image quality, revealing phenomena like surface bright spots and negative energy streams caused by cavity effects, which can degrade imaging performance.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of finite-size effects on LHM slabs, highlighting the impact on surface plasmon cavity effects and image degradation.

Findings

Surface bright spots can extend to the image plane.

Finite length influences cavity effects and image quality.

Thin slabs are more sensitive to length variations.

Abstract

The characteristics of an imaging system formed by a left-handed material (LHM) slab of finite length are studied, and the influence of the finite length of the slab on the image quality is analyzed. Unusual phenomena such as surface bright spots and negative energy stream at the image side are observed and explained as the cavity effects of surface plasmons excited by the evanescent components of the incident field. For a thin LHM slab, the cavity effects are found rather sensitive to the length of the slab, and the bright spots on the bottom surface of the slab may stretch to the image plane and degrade the image quality.