From Traditional Lenses to Superlenses: a Revolution in Imaging Technology

Abstract

Since ancient times, lenses have been a crucial tool in human history. They were used in telescopes during navigation to determine the surrounding environment; in biology, lenses were incorporated into microscopes to magnify details invisible to the human eye. However, due to their design and structural characteristics, traditional optical lenses have inherent drawbacks, resulting in physical bottlenecks in their development. These include insufficient image detail, severe detail loss, and excessively large and heavy lens assemblies. In the 21st century, with the intersection of optical physics and nanotechnology, scientists proposed the concept of metamaterials and began developing metamaterial-based superlenses. The advent of superlenses has truly provided tools capable of clearly magnifying nanoscale details. This represents not only a breakthrough in optical physics but also a foreshadowing of the importance of interdisciplinary exchange. This article, through a literature review, illustrates the role that cuttingedge technologies and research directions in superlenses developed in other countries can play in enabling the development of superlenses in China.