Abstract
Left-handed metamaterials make perfect lenses that image classical electromagnetic fields with significantly higher resolution than the diffraction limit. Here, we consider the quantum physics of such devices. We show that the Casimir force of two conducting plates may turn from attraction to repulsion if a perfect lens is sandwiched between them. For optical left-handed metamaterials, this repulsive force of the quantum vacuum may levitate ultra-thin mirrors.
Highlights
Left-handed metamaterials make perfect lenses that image classical electromagnetic fields with significantly higher resolution than the diffraction limit
Repulsive Casimir forces [14]-[20] have been predicted to occur between two different extended dielectric plates, in the extreme case [15] between one dielectric with infinite electric permittivity ε and another one with infinite magnetic permeability μ
This transformation property of the medium visually explains [22] that the material acts as a perfect lens [3]: the electromagnetic field in the range −b < x < 0 is mapped into x′, but x′ has two more images in physical space, one inside the device and one in b < x < 2b
Summary
Left-handed metamaterials make perfect lenses that image classical electromagnetic fields with significantly higher resolution than the diffraction limit. This transformation property of the medium visually explains [22] that the material acts as a perfect lens [3]: the electromagnetic field in the range −b < x < 0 is mapped into x′, but x′ has two more images in physical space, one inside the device and one in b < x < 2b.
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