Electromagnetic near-field interactions of a dipolar emitter with metal and metamaterial nanoslabs

Abstract

We investigate the emission properties of a polarizable point dipole placed within a subwavelength distance from a silver or a slightly absorbing, negative-index metamaterial nanoslab. Using electromagnetic theory we show that in the immediate vicinity of the slab the dipole-slab interaction prevents the dipole from radiating. For the metamaterial slab close to the perfect-lens arrangement, the interaction is relatively weak and of short range. In particular, a region exists in the near zone of the metamaterial slab where the dipole emission is not disturbed by the interaction, and a bright intensity distribution of subwavelength width is created on the opposite side of the slab. This suggests that a low-loss metamaterial slab can act as a near-field imaging device which does not disturb the object. For the silver slab the interaction is stronger and it reaches over the near-field zone, adversely influencing the imaging capabilities in terms of brightness and resolution. The results are important for the development of metal and metamaterial superlenses.