Metal-dielectric composites for beam splitting and far-field deep sub-wavelength resolution for visible wavelengths

We report beam splitting in a metamaterial composed of a silver-alumina composite covered by a layer of chromium containing one slit. By simulating distributions of energy flow in the metamaterial for H-polarized waves, we find that the beam splitting occurs when the width of the slit is shorter than the wavelength, which is conducive to making a beam splitter in sub-wavelength photonic devices. We also find that the metamaterial possesses deep sub-wavelength resolution capabilities in the far field when there are two slits and the central silver layer is at least 36 nm in thickness, which has potential applications in superresolution imaging. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America