Sensors 2011, 11(8), 7982-7991; doi:10.3390/s110807982
Article

Broadband Wide Angle Lens Implemented with Dielectric Metamaterials

John Hunt 1,* email, Nathan Kundtz 1 email, Nathan Landy 1 email, Vinh Nguyen 1 email, Tim Perram 2 email, Anthony Starr 2 email and David R. Smith 1 email
1 Center for Metamaterials and Integrated Plasmonics, Department of Electrical and Computer, Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA 2 SensorMetrix, San Diego, CA 92121, USA
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 8 July 2011; in revised form: 11 August 2011 / Accepted: 11 August 2011 / Published: 12 August 2011
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metamaterials for Sensing)
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Abstract: The Luneburg lens is a powerful imaging device, exhibiting aberration free focusing for parallel rays incident from any direction. However, its advantages are offset by a focal surface that is spherical and thus difficult to integrate with standard planar detector and emitter arrays. Using the recently developed technique of transformation optics, it is possible to transform the curved focal surface to a flat plane while maintaining the perfect focusing behavior of the Luneburg over a wide field of view. Here we apply these techniques to a lesser-known refractive Luneburg lens and implement the design with a metamaterial composed of a semi-crystalline distribution of holes drilled in a dielectric. In addition, we investigate the aberrations introduced by various approximations made in the implementation of the lens. The resulting design approach has improved mechanical strength with small aberrations and is ideally suited to implementation at infrared and visible wavelengths.
Keywords: metamaterials; transformation optics; gradient index; Luneburg lens

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Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Hunt, J.; Kundtz, N.; Landy, N.; Nguyen, V.; Perram, T.; Starr, A.; Smith, D.R. Broadband Wide Angle Lens Implemented with Dielectric Metamaterials. Sensors 2011, 11, 7982-7991.

AMA Style

Hunt J, Kundtz N, Landy N, Nguyen V, Perram T, Starr A, Smith DR. Broadband Wide Angle Lens Implemented with Dielectric Metamaterials. Sensors. 2011; 11(8):7982-7991.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Hunt, John; Kundtz, Nathan; Landy, Nathan; Nguyen, Vinh; Perram, Tim; Starr, Anthony; Smith, David R. 2011. "Broadband Wide Angle Lens Implemented with Dielectric Metamaterials." Sensors 11, no. 8: 7982-7991.

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