Real-Time Electro-Optical Tunable Hyperlens Under Subwavelength Scale

Abstract

Hyperlens consisted by period plasmonic metamaterials is an interesting technology for the optical imaging of arbitrary objects beyond the diffraction limit in the far field, which has great potential applications in nanophotonics. However, the functionality of previously presented hyperlens is limited to image two-dimensional (2-D) objects and work at a certain wavelength due to the dispersion of metal, dramatically impose restrictions on its practical application. In this paper, we proposed and theoretically demonstrated a multiwavelength tunable hyperlens, with the ability of 3-D imaging by focal plane tuning achieved by electro-optical modulation. The simulation results indicate that full-width half-maximum (FWHM) of minimum imaging spot can be reduced down to the level of less than half-wavelength of the incident in a wide wavelength range real-timely, down to the level of ~200 nm using visible light illumination. In addition, the focal position of the hyperlens can also be tuned in large spatial scope, which greatly facilitates the application of the hyperlens in optical signal acquisition and processing.

Keywords

• Sub-wavelength imaging
• hyperlens
• plasmonics
• metamaterials
• electro-optical effect
• perfect plasmonic absorber