Experimental demonstration of a non-resonant hyperlens in the visible spectral range

A metamaterial hyperlens offers a solution to overcome the diffraction limit by transforming evanescent waves responsible for imaging subwavelength features of an object into propagating waves. However, the first realizations of optical hyperlenses were limited by significant resonance-induced losses. Here we report the experimental demonstration of a non-resonant waveguide-coupled hyperlens operating in the visible wavelength range. A detailed investigation of various materials systems proves that a radial fan-shaped configuration is superior to the concentric layer-based configuration in that it relies on non-resonant negative dielectric response, and, as a result, enables low-loss performance in the visible range.