OPTICS:
Theorists Doubt Claims for Perfect Lens
Konstantin Kakaes
A spat has broken out in the normally calm world of optics over whether it is possible to make a perfect lens. Two years ago, a physicist at Imperial College in London predicted that a strange class of optical materials, known as negative index media, could make a lens that focuses all the parts of a light wave, even those that normally decay. But now, two different groups of researchers are attacking his conclusions.