Limitations on subdiffraction imaging with a negative refractive index slab

A planar slab of material, for which both the permittivity and permeability have the values of -1, can bring not only the propagating fields associated with a source to a focus, but can also refocus the nonpropagating near fields, thereby achieving resolution beyond the diffraction limit. We study the sensitivity of this subwavelength focus to the slab material properties and periodicity, and note the connection to slab surface plasmon modes. We conclude that significant subwavelength resolution is achievable with a single negative index slab, but only over a restrictive range of parameters. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.