Transformation optics and subwavelength control of light.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 22859483.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/science.1220600.
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Abstract
Our intuitive understanding of light has its foundation in the ray approximation and is intimately connected with our vision. As far as our eyes are concerned, light behaves like a stream of particles. We look inside the wavelength and study the properties of plasmonic structures with dimensions of just a few nanometers, where at a tenth or even a hundredth of the wavelength of visible light the ray picture fails. We review the concept of transformation optics that manipulates electric and magnetic field lines, rather than rays; can provide an equally intuitive understanding of subwavelength phenomena; and at the same time can be an exact description at the level of Maxwell's equations.