Natural Science Forum / Physics / General Physics / April 2008

Yawn. Old news.  And I love the way this "superlens" is covered with
copper! Yeah that'll let the light through just fine!

The story on these devices is a great fable on the skilled management
of global big business. It ranks right up there with Xerox inventing
the computerized office of the future and then pissing it all away.
Only this time it was a guy at IBM inventing how to increase
resolution in photo lithography.  Only IBM had met the patent quota
that year and wasn't interested. Nobody in management had a clue of
the utility of this invention. So they eventually sent it to Japan
where it was finally patented and sold for a song.  I presume IBM has
had to pay billions in royalties over the years for their own
invention. Let's hear it for the American Corporation!

These guys just reinvented the wheel.

"focus microwaves to a point 20 times smaller than their wavelength
using a new 'superlens'"

The focal length is the external phase decay length, typically one
wavelength.  If yer gonna get that close, ya might as well use a
knife.