Far-field imaging by the Veselago lens made of a photonic crystal

A detailed study of evanescent waves in a two-dimensional photonic crystal known to be a left-handed medium for propagating modes is presented. We have not found universal amplification of the evanescent modes, connected with negative mu and epsilon of the bulk photonic crystal. An analytical expression for the intensity distribution near the far-field focus is obtained using diffraction theory. This distribution contains some novel features and establishes a new diffraction limit for flat lenses. The distribution is generalized for multiple sources located at different points and is in very good agreement with computer simulations. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.