2000 in science - Paperback

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 28. Chapters: Superlens, Metamaterial, Negative index metamaterials, 2000 in paleontology, 2000 Simpsonwood CDC conference, Tagish Lake, July 2000 lunar eclipse, Bastille Day event, 2000 in archaeology, 2000 in birding and ornithology, Solar eclipse of December 25, 2000, Solar eclipse of July 31, 2000, January 2000 lunar eclipse, Solar eclipse of July 1, 2000, Solar eclipse of February 5, 2000. Excerpt: A superlens, super lens or perfect lens is a lens which uses metamaterials to go beyond the diffraction limit. The diffraction limit is an inherent limitation in conventional optical devices or lenses. In 2000, a type of lens was proposed, consisting of a metamaterial that compensates for wave decay and reconstructs images in the near field. In addition, both propagating and evanescent waves contribute to the resolution of the image. The first superlens with a negative refractive index provided resolution three times better than the diffraction limit and was demonstrated at microwave frequencies. Subsequently, the first optical superlens (an optical lens which exceeds the diffraction limit) was created and demonstrated, but the lens did not rely on negative refraction. Instead, a thin silver film was used to enhance the evanescent modes through surface plasmon coupling. Two developments in superlens research were reported in 2008. In the first case, alternate layers of silver and magnesium fluoride were deposited on a substrate. Then nanoscale grids were cut into the layers, which resulted in a 3-dimensional composite structure with a negative refractive index in the near-infrared region. In the second case, a metamaterial was formed from silver nanowires which were electrochemically deposited in porous aluminium oxide. The material exhibited negative refraction. In early 2007, a metamaterial with a negative index of refraction for a light wavelength just outside the frequency of the color red was announced. The material had an index of -0.6 at 780 nm. The Binocular microscope is a conventional optical system. Spatial resolution is confined by a diffraction limit that is a little above 200 nanometers. Schematic depictions and images of commonly used metallic nanoprobes that can be used to see a sample in nanometer resolution. Notice that the tips of the three nanoprobes are 100 nanometers.An image of an object can be defined as a tangible or visible representation o