Maximum Circular Dichroism Research Articles

Complete asymmetric polarization conversion at zero-eigenvalue exceptional points of non-Hermitian metasurfaces

Abstract Non-Hermitian systems can be tuned to exhibit exceptional points, where both eigenvalues and eigenstates coalesce concurrently. The inherent adaptability of photonic non-Hermitian systems in configuring gain and loss has allowed us to observe a plethora of counterintuitive phenomena, largely as a consequence of the eigenspace reduction at these exceptional points. In this work, we propose a non-Hermitian metasurface that, through the incorporation of gain, enables complete asymmetric polarization conversion at an exceptional point with a zero eigenvalue. Specifically, we provide numerical evidence for this concept by designing a non-Hermitian metasurface that facilitates polarization conversion from right to left circular polarization, while preventing conversion in the reverse direction and co-polarized transmission. Furthermore, our investigation reveals that this specific form of complete asymmetric polarization conversion results in maximum circular dichroism in transmission, thereby eliminating the need for external chirality or three-dimensional helical structures. This non-Hermitian technique offers an intriguing approach to designing polarization-sensitive optical devices and systems, further expanding their functionalities and capabilities.

Tunable and strong circular dichroism metamaterial absorber based on gold-VO2 hybrid structure

The existing terahertz chiral absorber faces a series of issues, including low efficiency, un-tunable absorption, and complex structure. We present a chiral metamaterial absorber integrated with gold and phase-change material vanadium dioxide (VO2) to address the issues above. Our designed metamaterial absorber’s maximum circular dichroism (CD) value, as an ideal chirality-selective meta-absorber, reaches 0.95 when VO2 behaves as a metallic state. However, when VO2 is in the insulator state, the CD value is merely 0.003. Notably, the intrinsic mechanisms of the CD effect are revealed by analyzing the difference in electromagnetic response under left-handed circularly polarized (LCP) and right-handed circularly polarized (RCP) illumination. The designed chiral metamaterial absorber supports the free switching of the CD signal between ‘on’ and ‘off’ states by continuously adjusting the conductivity of VO2 with a CD value ranging from 0 to 0.95. Moreover, the absorption performance of chiral metamaterials is affected by geometric parameters and the angle of incidence. To evaluate the capability of chiral structure in biosensing, three typical avian influenza viruses are sensed by detecting changes in their resonant frequencies and CD values. Finally, the presented chiral-selective absorber with phase-change materials has an important reference value in the terahertz range for constructing chiral light detectors, chiral thermal switching, biosensors, and tunable chiral photonics.

High quality factor and unity circular dichroism enabled by dielectric-Weyl semimetal-dielectric stack

A mid-infrared (mid-IR) chiral absorber based on multilayer films of silicon (Si)/Weyl semimetal (WSM)/Si is proposed and numerically studied. The proposal exhibits high quality factor circular dichroism (CD) with different absorptance properties for right-hand circular polarization (RCP) and left-hand circular polarization (LCP) light. The absorption characteristics have been explored with the generalized 4 × 4 transfer matrix algorithm, and the effects of structural parameters on the circularly polarized (CP) absorptance are systematically investigated. The circular polarization efficiency (η) and CD are defined as crucial parameters for quantifying the chirality response. The results prove that the chiral absorber exhibits extraordinary efficiencies of 1 and 0 for LCP and RCP light at a wavelength of 11.5 μm, respectively. Thus a maximum CD in absorption of unity with a resonant quality factor (Q-factor) of 295 can be obtained. The performance of dual-band chiral responses can be engineered via the thickness of each layer. Moreover, it is identified that the design results in angle-independent performance, which is essential trait for an efficient chiral absorber.

Maximal circular polarization isolation and asymmetric polarization conversion by chiral meta-structure

Chiral objects hold immense significance in modern optical technology, particularly due to their ability to manipulate circularly polarized waves. The chiroptical effects observed in naturally known chiral structures are typically very weak, however, the use of engineered meta-structures has proven to be highly effective in overcoming these shortcomings. Despite extensive research efforts, the construction of chiroptical phenomena approaching maximum performance has proven to be challenging, mostly due to the lack of optimal design choices and the existence of material losses. Here we present a metasurface constituting S-shaped building blocks capable of realizing virtually maximum chiroptical phenomena. The structure demonstrates nearly full polarization transmission, conversion to an opposite spin state, and reflection of the opposite spin state at a wavelength of 1549 nm. As a result, the maximum circular dichroism (CD) value reaches up to ≈1 (0.9993) for a given polarization state. Furthermore, reduced symmetry enables the one-way flow of a given polarization state resulting in about unity (0.998) asymmetric transmission (AT) value. Through rigorous numerical simulations, we elucidate the underlying principles driving these extraordinary optical properties. The CD and AT values are record-high demonstrated so far. The single-layer design offers an ultrathin profile, making it compatible with integrated photonics and providing opportunities for applications in compact, lightweight optical devices such as circular polarizers, half-wave plates, and self-polarizing reflectors.

Terahertz dichroic device withy multi-functionality, multi-band operation and multi-dimensional tunability

Most existing dichroic metasurfaces have limitations such as single operating band, single functionality, fixed dichroic performance or only adjustable in a single dimension, as well as complex structure. Here, we propose a terahertz dichroic device based on patterned graphene layer and gold layer to address these limitations. By utilizing the anisotropy endowed by the patterned graphene layer and the gold layer, the proposed device can achieve both dual-band circular dichroism (CD) and linear dichroism (LD), with maximum CD values of 0.866 at 1.09 THz and −0.614 at 1.76 THz, and maximum LD values of 0.779 at 0.51 THz and −0.633 at 0.76 THz. Meanwhile, the dichroism of the device can be regulated through multiple dimensions, i.e., the rotation angle of the top patterned graphene layer, the Fermi level of graphene and the incident angle. The proposed dichroic device offers multi-functionality, multi-band operation and multi-dimensional adjustability with a relatively simple structure, and is expected to be widely used in the fields of terahertz imaging, polarization detection, optical sensing and biological spectroscopy.

High Q-factor multifunctional plasmonic metasurfaces in the mid-infrared

As application scenarios grow in complexity, multifunctional integrated metasurfaces have been proposed as a potential development direction. We propose a multifunctional high Q-factor metasurface-based platform composed by size-scaled metasurface polarization selective absorbers (MPSAs) capable of polarization selective absorption, refractive index sensing and chiral response. By designing a gold step-shaped unit structure that can break the in-plane and out-of-plane symmetry, bound states in the continuums (BICs) with chiral response and a surface lattice resonance (SLR) are realized. The overall absorption amplitude of the quasi-BIC can reach a maximum value of 0.87 and a Q-factor of 153 while the SLR possesses a high Q-factor exceeding 1274 and a maximum absorption amplitude of 0.93. High extinction ratio up to 13 dB between the transverse magnetic and transverse electric polarization can be achieved. For refractive index (RI) sensing, the bulk RI sensitivities of the proposed MPSA for quasi-BIC and SLR are SBIC = 4000 nm/RIU and SSLR = 3740 nm/RIU, which leads to a high figure of merit (FOM) of FOMBIC = 161 /RIU and FOMSLR = 1247 /RIU, respectively. For chiral response, the maximum circular dichroism (CD) for the proposed MPSA is 0.88 by oblique incidence still maintaining a Q-factor exceeding 120, which indicates that it has potential application for chiral sensing. The proposed multifunctional metasurfaces-based platform possesses the potential to promising future applications for polarization manipulation, chiral biosensing, chiral drug analysis and quantum optics.

Tunable circular dichroism in all-dielectric metasurface with efficient wavefront manipulation

In this paper, an all-dielectric metasurface based on phase-change material Ge2Sb2Se4Te1 (GSST) working in the mid-infrared band is designed, and combined with Pancharatnam-Berry (PB) phase to realize multifunctional metasurfaces. The metasurface can convert incident circularly polarized waves to transmitted or reflected waves of opposite chirality, regardless of GSST is in amorphous or crystalline state. Due to constructive interference and destructive interference, the metasurface obtains giant circular dichroism (CD). The maximum CD value reaches 0.997 at f = 64 THz when GSST is in amorphous state and 0.97 at f = 45 THz when GSST is in crystalline state. According to the principle of PB phase, three optical devices are realized by the rational arrangement of all-dielectric meta-atoms with different rotation angles, which are beam deflectors, lenses and vortex beam generators.

Ultra-wideband chiroptical response by tri-layer anisotropic plasmonic metamaterial

The use of plasmonic chiral metamaterials for the control of circular polarization has the potential to replace conventional optical equipment for polarization-related applications. The ultra-broadband chiroptic response using plasmonic constituents is delivered by elaborate three-dimensional (3D) helical structures, nevertheless, their implementation is complicated, time-consuming, and poses a significant scaling difficulty at the nano level. Ultra-broadband response from planar constituents is particularly necessary as a means to circumvent the challenges of 3D metamaterials. Here we present a planar plasmonic structure composed of tri-layer anisotropic arrays constituting nanowires and cut-wires to generate dual overlapped chiral bands. Based on this tri-layer approach, we numerically realized ultra-broadband planar plasmonic metamaterials to function in the near- and mid-infrared regions with a bandwidth range of 1.38–3.07 µm and 4.00–8.10 µm, and maximum circular dichroism performance of 0.90 and 0.92 respectively. The structures are ultracompact, misalignments tolerant, and can be extended to additional spectral regions through structural engineering. The proposed metamaterial has the potential to be used in the creation of ultra-compact, high-performance devices for a wide variety of uses, such as those in the fields of optical communication, biological diagnosis, high-contrast polarization imaging, high-accuracy polarimetric measurements, and spectroscopy.

Arbitrary terahertz chirality construction and flexible manipulation enabled by anisotropic liquid crystal coupled chiral metasurfaces

Chiral metasurfaces integrated with active materials can dynamically control the chirality of electromagnetic waves, making them highly significant in physics, chemistry, and biology. Herein, we theoretically proposed a general and feasible design scheme to develop a chiral metadevice based on a bilayer anisotropic metasurface and a monolayer liquid crystal (LC), which can construct and flexibly manipulate arbitrary terahertz (THz) chirality. When the twist angle between the anisotropic axes of two metasurfaces θ is not 0°, the spatial mirror symmetry of the chiral metadevice is broken, resulting in a strong THz chiral response. In addition, the introduction of anisotropic LCs not only enhances the chiral response of the metadevice but also induces the flipping modulation and frequency tunability of the chirality. More importantly, by optimizing the θ, we can flexibly design the arbitrary chiral response and the operating frequency of chirality, thereby promoting the emergence of various chiral manipulation devices. The experimental results show that the maximum circular dichroism can reach −33 dB at 0.94 THz and flip to 28 dB at 0.69 THz by rotating the LC optical axis from the x to y axis, with the maximum operating frequency tunable range of ∼120 GHz. We expect this design strategy can create new possibilities for the advancement of active THz chiral devices and their applications, including chiral spectroscopy, molecular recognition, biosensing, and fingerprint detection.

Ultra-narrowband circular dichroism in all-dielectric chiral nanohole arrays based on griddings and monolayer MoS2

The strong circular dichroism (CD) of metallic chiral nanostructures can be applied to polarization conversion, negative refraction materials, and chiral molecule detection. However, metallic chiral nanostructures with losses struggle to produce dynamically tunable ultra-narrow band circular dichroism signals, which greatly limits their applications in sensing. In this paper, the MoS2 and Sb2S3 with phase change characteristics are introduced into all-dielectric chiral nanopore arrays (ACNAs) based on gridding to generate dynamically tunable ultra-narrow band circular dichroism signals. Simulation results show that ACNAs/MoS2 produce two strong narrow-band CD signals in the visible range. The maximum CD intensity can reach 0.75, and the maximum half-width can reach 0.8 nm. The electric field distribution indicates that two CD signals are mainly caused by the guided mode resonance. The ultra-narrow band CD signals both lie on their geometric parameters and can realize the dynamic regulation by changing the incidence angle of lights and the crystalline state of Sb2S3. Furthermore, the sensing characteristics of this device were evaluated by analyzing the effects of different concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 solutions on the CD spectra. These findings will facilitate the design of all-dielectric chiral nanostructures with dynamically tunable ultra-narrow band CDs and facilitate their applications in biosensing.

Generation of Circular Dichroism from Superposed Magnetically Oriented Magnetic Nanoparticles

Circular dichroism (CD) spectra were observed for the doubly superposed film–film and solution–solution samples, which all contained magnetically oriented achiral iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). The observed CD spectra critically depended on the angle difference, Δθ, between the orientation axes of MNPs in the superposed samples, giving the maximum CD value at the angle of Δθ = 45°. In a single solution cell sample with doubly superposed magnetic fields also, similar CD spectra depending on the angle difference between the magnetic fields were observed. These observed CD spectra were successfully reconstructed from the observed linear dichroism (LD) and linear birefringence (LB) spectra of each sample by the use of a superposed Mueller matrix method. Furthermore, triply and quadruply superposed solution samples exhibited the maximum CD spectra at the angle differences of Δθ = 30 and 22.5°, respectively, as suggested by the superposed Mueller matrix calculation. Thus, the origin of all CD spectra observed for the superposed achiral MNP samples has been quantitatively assigned to the helical combinations of LD and LB spectra of the magnetic field-induced optically oriented MNPs.

Numerical Simulations of Circular Dichroism and Polarization Conversion in VO2-Based Terahertz Metamaterials

Metamaterials with actively tunable functionalities are highly desirable for applications of advanced optoelectronic devices. In this paper, we theoretically present a metamaterial with diversified functionalities by availing of the phase transition characteristics of vanadium dioxide (VO2) in terahertz frequency regions. The research results demonstrate that the function of the designed metamaterial can be switched from giant circular dichroism (CD) to a reflecting broadband half-wave plate (HWP) and a quarter-wave plate (QWP). When VO2 is in the isolating state, the metamaterial exhibits a quite distinct transmission efficiency for circularly polarized lights, thus resulting in a maximum CD value ~0.97 at the resonant frequency. When VO2 is operating in the metallic state, the metamaterial performs like a broadband HWP, in which the nearly perfect linear polarization conversion can be achieved at the frequency range from 3 to 7 THz. Moreover, the structure can play a role of a high-efficiency QWP that can simultaneously convert the incident linear polarized light to left-handed and right-handed circularly polarized light. The calculated ellipticity indicates a good polarization conversion at the frequency of 2.4 THz and 7.4 THz, respectively. The physical mechanism of the discussed features and effects can be explained by exploring the electric field distributions. Furthermore, the structural parameters also exert great influences for achieving giant CD and HWP as well as QWP. The proposed metamaterial may offer a new approach for designing metamaterial devices with multi-functions in THz regions.

Adjustable strong circular dichroism based on a tricircular arc metasurface.

Circular dichroism has promising applications in biology, molecular chemistry, and other fields. The key to obtaining strong circular dichroism is to introduce symmetry breaking into the structure, which leads to a great difference in the response to different circularly polarized waves. Here, we propose a metasurface structure based on three circular arcs, which produces strong circular dichroism. The metasurface structure combines the split ring with the three circular arcs and increases the structural asymmetry by changing the relative torsional angle. The causes of the strong circular dichroism are analyzed in this paper, and the influence of metasurface parameters on it is discussed. According to the simulation data, the response of the proposed metasurface to different circularly polarized waves varies greatly, with absorption of up to 0.99 at 5.095THz for a left-handed circularly polarized wave and a maximum circular dichroism of over 0.93. In addition, the incorporation of the phase change material vanadium dioxide on the structure allows flexible modulation of circular dichroism and modulation depths of up to 98.6%. The change of angle within a certain range has little effect on the structural performance. We believe that this flexible and angle robust chiral metasurface structure is suitable for complex reality, and large modulation depth is more practical.

Chiral enantiomer recognition of amino acids enhanced by terahertz spin beam separation based on a Pancharatnam-Berry metasurface.

The highly sensitive detection and identification of chiral biochemical substances have attracted extensive attention. Terahertz (THz) spectroscopy and sensing technology have obvious advantages in non-contact and label-free biochemical detection, but the THz chiral spectral response of chiral biochemical substances is too weak to realize highly sensitive chiral enantiomer recognition. Herein, we propose a method of spin beam deflection and separation by using a Pancharatnam-Berry (PB) metasurface to enhance the THz chirality response of chiral amino acids, realizing the identification of chiral enantiomers of the same kind of amino acid. The conjugate spin transmittances and circular dichroism (CD) spectra of d- and l-tyrosine samples on the PB metasurface were measured by an angle-resolved THz time-domain polarization spectroscopy system, and their CD values reached 16.4° and -11.6° at a deflection angle of ±33°, respectively, which were enhanced by about 9.3 and 11.9 times compared with the maximum CD values of the sample without the metasurface. Therefore, this THz chiral sensing method based on a PB metasurface has great potential in highly sensitive chirality identification and enhancement for chiral substances.

Dielectric chiral metasurfaces for enhanced circular dichroism spectroscopy at near infrared regime.

Numerous applications of chiro-optical effects can be found in nanophotonics, including imaging and spin-selective absorption, particularly in sensing for separating and detecting chiral enantiomers. Flat single-layer metasurfaces composed of chiral or achiral sub-wavelength structures offer unique properties to manipulate the light due to their extraordinary light-matter interaction. However, at optical wavelengths, the generation of strong chirality is found to be challenging via conventional chiral metasurface approaches. This work intends to design and optimize a dielectric chiral meta-nano-surface based on a diatomic design strategy to comprehend giant chiro-optical effects in the near-infrared (NIR) regime for potential application in circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. Instead of using a single chiral structure that limits the CD value at optical wavelengths, the proposed metasurface used a diatomic (two meta-atoms with distinct geometric parameters) chiral structure as a building block to significantly enhance the chiro-optical effect. Combining both meta-atoms in a single periodicity of the building block introduces constructive and destructive interferences to attain the maximum circular dichroism value exceeding 75%. Moreover, using multipolar resonance theory, the physics behind the generation of giant chiro-optical effects have also been investigated. The proposed dielectric chiral meta-platform based on the extra degree of freedom can find application in compact integrated optical setups for CD spectroscopy, enantiomer separation and detection, spin-dependent color filters, and beam splitters.

Enhancing terahertz circular dichroism spectrum of amino acid chiral enantiomers by all-dielectric metasurface

The detection and identification of chiral substances have a wide range of applications, recently, using THz chiral spectroscopy to identify chiral biomolecules has attracted much attention. However, since the weak response, the difference between chiral enantiomers is not obvious only by THz chiral spectroscopy. To solve this problem, we combined THz time-domain polarization spectroscopy and all-dielectric metasurface to enhance the chiral spectroscopy of amino acids. The circular dichroism (CD) spectra of three pairs of amino acid chiral enantiomers were detected and compared by this method. Our results show that CD spectra of the amino acids are enhanced by the metasurface. L-Arg achieves a maximum chirality enhancement factor of 97.15 around 1 THz. For the recognition between L- and D- enantiomers, Cysteine has a maximum CD difference degree of 34.22°, which is 11.4 times higher than that without metasurface. Moreover, we also investigated the effect of amino acid concentration on chirality, founding that THz chirality was suppressed by high concentrations. Therefore, this metasurface sensor with the chiral sensing method has great potential in improving the THz chirality response of amino acids and distinguishing their chiral enantiomers with high sensitivity, which will provide new understanding and development in THz biophysics and biochemistry.

Origami-Inspired Chiral Metamaterials With Tunable Circular Dichroism Through Mechanically Guided Three-Dimensional Assembly

Abstract Chiral metamaterials with artificially engineered subwavelength structures can effectively couple incident waves and lead diverse electromagnetic responses to various circular polarizations. Here, we designed and fabricated an origami-inspired reconfigurable three-dimensional (3D) chiral metamaterial, whose circular dichroism can be dynamically controlled by simple mechanical stretch of its bonded elastomer substrate. The chiral metamaterial was obtained from a patterned planar achiral metasurface through mechanically guided 3D assembly based on the prestrain approach, which ensures deterministic and uniform deformations for each building block during stretching. Numerical simulations and experimental observations were carried out to illustrate the deformation mechanism and the electromagnetic response of the metamaterials under the applied strain. It is shown that the transmissions and chiroptical activities can be continuously tuned from complete spin selectivity to partial spin selectivity when the applied strain increases. The maximum circular dichroism was experimentally measured as high as 0.98, which can be even adjusted to near zero by mechanical stretching. Our work demonstrated an easily operated and promising way to control the chirality of origami-inspired metamaterial in the microwave region, which can be further extended to the terahertz frequency biosensing, imaging, and spectroscope.

Chiral Metasurfaces with Maximum Circular Dichroism Enabled by Out‐of‐Plane Plasmonic System

AbstractChiral metasurfaces with pronounced reflective chiroptical responses have drawn extensive attention as they can offer great opportunities for various chirality‐related applications. However, their fascinating potential are restrained by limited chiroptical responses, relatively complex design principle, and fabrication strategy. Herein, a concise and general design principle to develop out‐of‐plane reflective chiral metasurfaces, empowered with the maximum theoretical circular dichroism (CD), is theoretically proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The designed out‐of‐plane chiral metasurfaces operating in the terahertz (THz) region are flexibly fabricated via a simple, scalable, low‐cost and lithography‐free fabrication strategy by integrating a three‐dimensional (3D) printing technique. Finally, the methodological stabilities and the strong chiroptical responses of proposed chiral metasurfaces are validated experimentally. From the general design principle, simple fabrication strategy as well as maximum chiroptical responses of proposed reflective chiral metasurfaces, it can be envisaged that these findings may overcome the difficulties in design, optimization, and fabrication for reflective chiral metasurfaces and provide promising potentials for various chirality‐related applications in emerging THz technologies, such as chiral sensing, imaging, spectroscopy and polarimetry.

Mid-infrared reconfigurable all-dielectric metasurface based on Ge2Sb2Se4Te1 phase-change material.

In this paper, a reconfigurable all-dielectric metasurface based on Ge2Sb2Se4Te1 (GSST) phase-change material is proposed. By changing GSST from amorphous state to crystalline state, the metasurface can achieve high circular dichroism (CD) and wideband polarization conversion for circularly polarized waves in the mid-infrared (MIR) band. The maximum CD value reaches 0.95 at 74 THz, and circular polarization conversion efficiency is more than 90% in the wideband range of 41 THz - 48 THz. In addition, based on Pancharatnam-Berry phase, three kinds of wavefront manipulation of light have been realized: abnormal refraction, orbital angular momentum vortex beam and orbital angular momentum vortex beam splitting. This work has potential applications in the future MIR optical integrated system.

Mid-infrared chiral metasurface absorbers with split-ellipse structures

Natural chiral materials usually have very weak circular dichroism (CD) responses. Here, we design and demonstrate one type of mid-infrared chiral metasurface absorber with strong chiroptical effects, which can achieve high CD in absorption above 0.57 over the wavelength range of 5 to 5.9μm. The maximum absorption of the chiral metasurface absorber under circularly polarized light can reach 0.90 and the maximum CD in absorption is 0.63. Meanwhile, the chiral resonance wavelength and the CD value can be tuned by varying the geometric parameters of the metasurface. A thermal analysis of the metasurface absorber further shows the strong connection between CD in absorption and temperature difference. The demonstrated chiral metasurface absorbers can be used in many promising applications such as molecular sensing, thermophotovoltaics and chiral spectroscopy.