Abstract
Chirality, a lack of mirror symmetry, is present in nature at all scales; at the nanoscale, it governs the biochemical reactions of many molecules, influencing their pharmacology and toxicity. Chiral substances interact with left and right circularly polarized light differently, but this difference is very minor in natural materials. Specially engineered, nanostructured, periodic materials can enhance the chiro-optical effects if the symmetry in their interactions with circular polarization is broken. In the diffraction range of such metasurfaces, the intensity of diffracted orders depends on the chirality of the input beam. In this work, we combine a photothermal deflection experiment with a novel theoretical framework to reconstruct both the thermal and optical behavior of chiro-optical behavior in diffracted beams.
Highlights
A chiral object cannot be superimposed onto its mirror image; and has a left and right version, like our hands
The pioneering work was done by Pasteur, by studying the rotation of the polarization plane of linear polarized light travelling in chiral media, i.e., the optical rotatory power or optical activity (OA) [4]
The photothermal deflection technique has been used as a sensitive tool to test chiral effects in diffractive metasurfaces
Summary
A chiral object cannot be superimposed onto its mirror image; and has a left and right version, like our hands. The pioneering work was done by Pasteur, by studying the rotation of the polarization plane of linear polarized light travelling in chiral media, i.e., the optical rotatory power or optical activity (OA) [4] This effect is due to the difference in the propagation velocity of two circularly polarized beams of opposite handedness, in which a linear polarized beam can be decomposed. Another aspect of interaction between chiral light and chiral substances is the differential absorption of the left and right circular polarized light (LCP from RCP, respectively), and this differential absorption is usually defined as circular dichroism (CD). Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations
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