Scatterer localization using a left-handed medium

Abstract

This paper explores the possibility of using the focusing property of left-handed materials to estimate the location of a visually obscured target. The field scattered by the target and measured on a surface can be considered as incident upon a left-handed half-space and should converge to a point resembling the mirror image of the scatterer's location. The results are obtained using the method of auxiliary sources as adapted to double-negative media. Two-dimensional scattering is considered, either from a single object or from several targets, using pointlike and Gaussian sources of illumination. The method gives reasonable results when the sizes of the scatterers are comparable to the wavelength.