Metamaterials for subwavelength imaging at microwave, terahertz, infrared and optical frequencies

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Recently, a paper by Sir John Pendry about the possibility of creating perfect lenses with nearly unrestricted sub-wavelength resolution by the use of the left-handed media (materials with both negative permittivity and permeability) initiated a boom in studies of the artificial media with the exotic and unusual electromagnetic properties. It is likely that this was the birth of a new area of modern physics, which is now named metamaterials. The development of this new branch of research in the multidisciplinary field of material physics, electromagnetics, optics, radio engineering, and electronics concerns artificial electromagnetic multi-functional materials engineered to satisfy the prescribed electromagnetic requirements. Superior properties as compared to what can be found in nature are often underlying in the term 'metamaterials'. Electromagnetic metamaterials will play a key role in providing new functionalities and enhancements to the future electronic devices and components, such as high-speed circuits, multifunctional smart miniature antennas and apertures, high-resolution imaging systems, smart skins, and so forth. After all, these and other systems are built on substrates and superstrates whose electromagnetic response functions define the design and performance of the systems. Metamaterials are, in essence, the materials of the future, since the main purpose for their study is to be able to go beyond where naturally occurring substances and current materials research have taken us. By combining different microscopic elements into large-scale designs, one will be able not only to create materials with fundamentally new properties but also to fabricate others that have properties on demand, as required by new technologies. In particular, new electromagnetic properties will allow one to control microwaves, millimetre waves, and optical light in revolutionary ways. This is the context in which the present proposal is framed. It covers the topic of sub-wavelength imaging using metamaterials which can find multitudinous applications in many areas of information technology and life science such as: better imaging systems; higher capacity optical data storage systems; more compact integrated optical telecom solutions. In the project the innovative opportunities to construct left-handed media and to achieve sub-wavelength imaging without left-handed media are proposed.