Magnetized plasma for reconfigurable subdiffraction imaging

Abstract

We show that magnetized plasma with appropriately designed parameters supports nearly diffractionless propagation of electromagnetic waves along the direction of the applied magnetic field, arising from their unbounded equifrequency contour in the magnetized plasma. Such a unique feature can be utilized to construct subdiffraction imaging devices, which is confirmed by detailed numerical investigations. Subdiffraction imaging devices based on magnetic plasma do not require microfabrication normally entailed by construction of metamaterials; more importantly, they can be dynamically reconfigured by tuning the applied magnetic field or the plasma density, and therefore they represent a facile and powerful route for imaging applications. © 2011 American Physical Society.