Scatterer localization using a left-handed medium

This paper explores the possibility of using the focusing property of left-handed materials to estimate the location of a visually obscured target. The field scattered by the target and measured on a surface can be considered as incident upon a left-handed half-space and should converge to a point resembling the mirror image of the scatterer's location. The results are obtained using the method of auxiliary sources as adapted to double-negative media. Two-dimensional scattering is considered, either from a single object or from several targets, using pointlike and Gaussian sources of illumination. The method gives reasonable results when the sizes of the scatterers are comparable to the wavelength. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America