Sub-diffraction-limited magnified Talbot imaging in cylindrical metamaterial

Abstract

We numerically demonstrated the sub-diffraction-limited magnified Talbot imaging in a metamaterial composed of cylindrical stacked metal/dielectric multilayer. It was found that the magnified Talbot imaging could occur without the requirement of the metal/dielectric permittivity matching condition as satisfied in the hyperlens. Specifically, in this work, a practical realization of the magnified Talbot imaging was performed by Ag/Al₂O₃ multilayer stack at the wavelength of 337 nm. Unlike the traditional Talbot effect, the Talbot length in this case is not a constant but a variable and the variable Talbot length can be predicted roughly by ray optics approach. The contrast of the magnified Talbot imaging is decided by both the imaginary part and the real part in permittivity of the metamaterial. In order to obtain a deep sub-wavelength magnified Talbot image at the outer surface of the cylindrical metamaterial, the outer cylindrical radius should be optimized and the imaginary part in the permittivity should be small enough.