Nominal model for the optical response of a chiral sculptured thin film infiltrated by an isotropic chiral fluid-oblique incidence

Abstract

Numerical calculations on the response of a nonaxially excited chiral sculptured thin film (STF) infiltrated with a chiral fluid are presented. The effects of the constitutive and microstructural parameters on the optical response of the chiral STF are explored. Two Bragg regimes manifest themselves when the chiral STF is excited nonaxially. Infiltration of a chiral STF with a chiral fluid can either blue- or red-shift the spectral location of one Bragg regime, but the shift of the spectral location of the other Bragg regime is largely indifferent to the chirality of the fluid. The model also predicts that the chiral fluid can either enhance or diminish the optical activity exhibited by the chiral STF within either manifested Bragg regime. Which of these effects occurs depends on the microstructural and constitutive properties of the chiral STF as well as the constitutive properties of the chiral fluid. The angle of incidence of the plane wave also effects the response of the chiral STF.