A superlens is a lens which is capable of subwavelength imaging, allowing for magnification of near field rays. Conventional lenses have a resolution on the order of one wavelength due to the so-called diffraction limit. This limit hinders imaging very small objects, such as individual atoms, which are much smaller than the wavelength of visible light. A superlens is able to beat the diffraction limit. An example is the initial lens described by Pendry, which uses a slab of material with a negative index of refraction as a flat lens. In theory, a perfect lens would be capable of perfect focus – meaning that it could perfectly reproduce the electromagnetic field of the source plane at the image plane.