Generalized Veselago-Pendry lenses via complex transformation optics

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Electromagnetism
• Materials Science

Background:

• Conventional Veselago-Pendry (VP) flat lenses rely on transformation optics (TO) and multivalued coordinate transformations for perfect imaging.
• The TO perspective reveals that VP lenses achieve perfect imaging through a 'space folding' effect, mapping one source point to three physical points.
• While theoretically capable of recovering all spectral components (propagating and evanescent), VP lenses violate causality for realistic wave packets, hindering practical realization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To derive generalized Veselago-Pendry (GVP) lenses using complex transformation optics (CTO).
• To overcome the limitations of multivalued transformations inherent in conventional VP lenses.
• To enable the recovery of evanescent spectra under more general conditions, including material loss and gain.

Main Methods:

• Application of complex transformation optics (CTO) principles.
• Derivation of GVP lenses without requiring multivalued coordinate transformations.
• Analysis of field solutions considering anisotropic material loss/gain.

Main Results:

• Successfully derived GVP lenses that do not rely on multivalued transformations.
• Demonstrated that GVP lenses can fully recover evanescent spectra.
• Showed that GVP lenses are effective even in the presence of anisotropic material loss or gain.

Conclusions:

• GVP lenses offer a path towards practical perfect imaging by circumventing causality violations associated with conventional VP lenses.
• The ability to recover evanescent spectra under more general conditions expands the potential applications of flat lenses.
• CTO provides a powerful framework for designing advanced optical devices with improved performance and broader applicability.