If an object is very small in size compared with the wavelength of light, it
does not scatter light efficiently. It is hence difficult to detect a very
small object with light. We show using analytic theory as well as full wave
numerical calculation that the effective polarizability of a small cylinder can
be greatly enhanced by coupling it with a superlens type metamaterial slab.
This kind of enhancement is not due to the individual resonance effect of the
metamaterial slab, nor due to that of the object, but is caused by a collective
resonant mode between the cylinder and the slab. We show that this type of
particle-slab resonance which makes a small two-dimensional object much
brighter is actually closely related to the reverse effect known in the
literature as cloaking by anomalous resonance which can make a small cylinder
undetectable. We also show that the enhancement of polarizability can lead to
strongly enhanced electromagnetic forces that can be attractive or repulsive,
depending on the material properties of the cylinder
