TITLE: Is a perfect lens possible? Concepts of negative refractive index.

SPEAKER: Jerrold E. Kielbasa,

TIME: Thursday Dec. 1, 2005 at 4 PM

PLACE: George P. Williams, Jr. Lecture Hall, (Olin 101)

Materials with a negative index of refraction (n = (εμ)^1/2) can image beyond the diffraction limit by amplifying an objects evanescent field. Because negative index does not occur naturally, materials built from arrays of electric and magnetic subunits have to be fabricated to exhibit the desired electromagnetic response. A significant challenge in designing these metamaterials is that the size of the subunit must be much smaller than the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation. This has kept negative index out of the Vis-IR range. We have distributed Ag nanowires in a dielectric sol-gel host in order to overcome this obstacle.

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