中国物理B ›› 2007, Vol. 16 ›› Issue (7): 1976-1985.doi: 10.1088/1009-1963/16/7/029
• CLASSICAL AREAS OF PHENOMENOLOGY • 上一篇 下一篇
沈建其
Shen Jian-Qi(沈建其)
摘要: A new quantum optical mechanism to realize simultaneously negative electric permittivity and magnetic permeability is suggested. In order to obtain a negative permeability, we choose a proper atomic configuration that can dramatically enhance the contribution of the magnetic-dipole allowed transition via the atomic phase coherence. It is shown that the atomic system chosen with proper optical parameters can give rise to striking electromagnetic responses (leading to a negative refractive index) and that the atomic vapour becomes a left-handed medium in an optical frequency band. Differing from the previous schemes of artificial composite metamaterials (based on classical electromagnetic theory) to achieve the left-handed materials, which consist of anisotropic millimetre-scale composite structure units, the left-handed atomic vapour presented here is isotropic and homogeneous at the atomic-scale level. Such an advantage may be valuable in realizing the superlens (and hence perfect image) with left-handed atomic vapour.
中图分类号: (Optical constants (including refractive index, complex dielectric constant, absorption, reflection and transmission coefficients, emissivity))