A tiny hyperlens that looks like a Slinky could help doctors detect deadly cancers.
The lens boosts scientists ability to study single molecules and could also advance methods of nanoelectronic manufacturing, the University at Buffalo reported.
"There is a great need in healthcare, nanotechnology and other areas to improve our ability to see tiny objects that elude even the most powerful optical systems. The hyperlens we are developing is, potentially, a giant step toward solving this problem," said Natalia Litchinitser, professor of electrical engineering at the University at Buffalo and the paper's lead author.
Most optical technology used today, such as cameras and microscopes, are limited by diffraction, a phenomenon in which light bends as it passes through a slit. This concept poses a major challenge because it limits the optical system's resolution. Scientists are working to solve this using metamaterials, which are engineered to have properties not seen in nature.
These metamaterial hyperlenses overcome the limit of diffraction by changing decaying evanescent waves into propagating waves. The once decaying waves, which would have been lost in conventional technology, can then be collected and transmitted using standard optical components.
Previous metamaterial hyperlenses were composed of concentric rings of silver and dielectric, but this approach was limited to specific wavelength ranges and suffered a large loss of resonance. These newly-developed hyperlenses are made from slivers of gold and a transparent thermoplastic called PMMA, which form a radial shape. This new shape, which resembles a tiny Slinky, overcomes the diffraction limit and can be integrated with an optical waveguide, making it a potential addition to medical endoscopes.
Standard endoscopes can resolve objects up to about 10,000 nanometers, but a hyperlens-based endoscope could reach at least 250 nanometers. This could allow doctors to detect cancer at even earlier stages.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Nature Communications.
