Negative Refraction and Subwavelength Lensing in a Polaritonic Crystal

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that a two-dimensional polaritonic crystal made of metallic rods can achieve negative refraction and subwavelength imaging in the visible spectrum by restoring evanescent waves through surface modes.

Contribution

It introduces a polaritonic crystal design capable of negative refraction and subwavelength lensing at visible frequencies, expanding potential applications.

Findings

Surface modes facilitate evanescent wave restoration.

Negative refraction occurs in a narrow frequency range.

Applicable to various materials like silver, aluminum, and carbon nanotubes.

Abstract

We show that a two-dimensional polaritonic crystal, made of metallic rods that support well defined plasmon oscillations, can act in a narrow frequency range as a medium in which a negative refraction and subwavelength lensing can occur. We show that surface modes are excited on the surface of the lens, and that they facilitate restoration of the evanescent waves, which carry the subwavelength image information. We demonstrate that this can occur in the visible frequency range, for a wide range of materials, including silver and aluminum rods, and carbon nanotubes. This flexibility should allow for an experimental demonstration of this phenomenon in the visible frequency range.