Subwavelength imaging by a left-handed material superlens

Abstract

In this work, finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method is employed to justify the superlensing effect of left-handed material (LHM) slabs. Our results demonstrate that subwavelength resolution can be achieved by realistic LHM slabs with finite absorption and dimension. We present the dynamic feature of the imaging process and the dependence of physical parameters on the performance of the superlens. These results help to clarify the diversed FDTD results reported previously. We also show that the achievable resolution is limited by the absorption and thickness of the LHM slabs, which introduces difficulties in practical applications of the superlens.