Energy Flow in a Negative-Index Material

This Demonstration shows the energy flows from a dipole source ("object") near a slab made of negative index material (NIM) or left-handed material (LHM). In contrast to the conventional picture of energy flows from a source to an image [1,2] ( from left to right in our case), we show that for small distances between the dipole and the NIM slab (regime of a "perfect" lens), the energy in such systems does not go from the object to its "image", but from the object and its "image" to an intersection point inside a metamaterial layer, or in the opposite direction. This Demonstration is based on an analytical solution of Maxwell's equations for an -oriented dipole ("object") placed at a distance from a NIM slab of width [3,4]. The solution is a combination of fields of three -oriented dipoles. Two of them are sources of energy while third dipole is sink of energy.