Electromagnetic resonances in individual and coupled split-ring resonators

We demonstrate a composite medium, based on a periodic array of interspaced conducting nonmagnetic split ring resonators and continuous wires, that exhibits a frequency region in the microwave regime with simultaneously negative values of effective permeability &mgr;(eff)(omega) and permittivity varepsilon(eff)(omega). This structure forms a "left-handed" medium, for which it has been predicted that such phenomena as the Doppler effect, Cherenkov radiation, and even Snell's law are inverted. It is now possible through microwave experiments to test for these effects using this new metamaterial.

With a conventional lens sharpness of the image is always limited by the wavelength of light. An unconventional alternative to a lens, a slab of negative refractive index material, has the power to focus all Fourier components of a 2D image, even those that do not propagate in a radiative manner. Such "superlenses" can be realized in the microwave band with current technology. Our simulations show that a version of the lens operating at the frequency of visible light can be realized in the form of a thin slab of silver. This optical version resolves objects only a few nanometers across.