The evanescent waves in metamaterial from the point of view of molecular optics

Abstract

The medium is composed of plane-parallel monolayers consisting of Huygens elements. In the molecular optics model, expressions are obtained for the reflected field, the field in the medium, and (in the case of a layer of finite thickness) behind the medium. The physical mechanism is clarified and the condition for field amplification in the medium is obtained. An expression for the refractive index of the medium is introduced. It is shown that the possible overcoming of the diffraction limit with allowance for evanescent waves is limited. The conditions limiting the marginal improvement in the resolution of the metamaterial layer are obtained. In the case of a medium layer of finite thickness, the output of the backward wave outside the metamaterial is shown.