Acoustic planar hyperlens based on anisotropic density-near-zero metamaterials

Based on anisotropic density-near-zero metamaterials, we demonstrate a planar hyperlens with resolution beyond the diffraction limit in both one and two lateral dimensions. In contrast to the cylindrical hyperlens with elliptical dispersions of finite anisotropy, the proposed planar hyperlens is designed with flat near-zero dispersion that supports wave tunneling with extremely high phase velocity for infinite large transverse wave vectors. Therefore, the acoustic evanescent waves immediately concentrate into the designed oblique path till the output surface, leading to a subwavelength resolution. Prototype hyperlens is constructed with a membrane-network by means of equivalent lumped-circuit model, and the subwavelength magnifying performance for a pair of one-dimensional line objects as well as the complex two-dimensional structure is demonstrated. This method provides diverse routes to construct hyperlens operating without the limitation on imaging region in practical applications