As reported in the July 2006 Scientific American it appears that optical
theory has been much too restrictive in that it considers only
materials with a positive index of refraction. It turns out the it's
possible to engineer "metamaterials" that exhibit negative refraction
and some rather bizarre properties. So bizarre that the theorists are
in a tizzy about whether what the engineers have created can even exist.
Ha! So much for the theorists.
The upshot of this is that the resolving power of a lens made with
metamaterials is not restricted to what theory has said based on
positive indices of refraction. I had to skim the article quickly in
the dentists office yesterday so can't provide much detail other than to
say it looks like everything we thought we knew about light and radio
waves is about to fall by the wayside. Higher resolution lenses, higher
storage density in optical media, etc. etc. Check it out. The theory
was known 40 years ago but no one had been able to build such materials
before. Now they have.
<http://scientificamericandigital.com/index.cfm?fa=Products.ViewIssuePreview&ARTICLEID_CHAR=B018914D-2B35-221B-6B492DBCEF361214>
Chuck Norcutt
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