In manufacturing left-handed media the interfaces will never be perfect; defects and other disturbances to interfaces and material parameters are unavoidable. We report an analytical calculation of electromagnetic wave propagation through a perfect lens with diffuse boundaries. Field localizations are generated in the boundary layers, and the lens’ ability to recover evanescent modes in the presence of these boundaries is analyzed and quantified. It is shown that such a diffuse layer produces an effect that is qualitatively similar to a lens with increased losses.
© 2009 Optical Society of America
Original Manuscript: January 13, 2009
Revised Manuscript: February 10, 2009
Manuscript Accepted: February 18, 2009
Published: March 24, 2009
P. C. Ingrey, K. I. Hopcraft, O. French, and E. Jakeman, "Perfect lens with not so perfect boundaries," Opt. Lett. 34, 1015-1017 (2009)