Chirality and chiroptical effects in plasmonic nanostructures: fundamentals, recent progress, and outlook

Disposable Plasmonics: Plastic Templated Plasmonic Metamaterials with Tunable Chirality

Development of low-cost disposable plasmonic substrates is vital for the applicability of plasmonic sensing. Such devices can be made using injection-molded templates to create plasmonic films. The elements of these plasmonic films are hybrid nanostructures composed of inverse and solid structures. Tuning the modal coupling between the two allows optimization of the optical properties for nanophotonic applications.

Numerical study of achiral phase-change metamaterials for ultrafast tuning of giant circular conversion dichroism

Control of the polarization of light is highly desirable for detection of material’s chirality since biomolecules have vibrational modes in the optical region. Here, we report an ultrafast tuning of pronounced circular conversion dichroism (CCD) in the mid-infrared (M-IR) region, using an achiral phase change metamaterial (PCMM). Our structure consists of an array of Au squares separated from a continuous Au film by a phase change material (Ge₂Sb₂Te₅) dielectric layer, where the Au square patches occupy the sites of a rectangular lattice. The extrinsically giant 2D chirality appears provided that the rectangular array of the Au squares is illuminated at an oblique incidence, and accomplishes a wide tunable wavelength range between 2664 and 3912 nm in the M-IR regime by switching between the amorphous and crystalline states of the Ge₂Sb₂Te₅. A photothermal model is investigated to study the temporal variation of the temperature of the Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ layer, and shows the advantage of fast transiting the phase of Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ of 3.2 ns under an ultralow incident light intensity of 1.9 μW/μm². Our design is straightforward to fabricate and will be a promising candidate for controlling electromagnetic (EM) wave in the optical region.

Circularly polarized light detection with hot electrons in chiral plasmonic metamaterials

Circularly polarized light is utilized in various optical techniques and devices. However, using conventional optical systems to generate, analyse and detect circularly polarized light involves multiple optical elements, making it challenging to realize miniature and integrated devices. While a number of ultracompact optical elements for manipulating circularly polarized light have recently been demonstrated, the development of an efficient and highly selective circularly polarized light photodetector remains challenging. Here we report on an ultracompact circularly polarized light detector that combines large engineered chirality, realized using chiral plasmonic metamaterials, with hot electron injection. We demonstrate the detector's ability to distinguish between left and right hand circularly polarized light without the use of additional optical elements. Implementation of this photodetector could lead to enhanced security in fibre and free-space communication, as well as emission, imaging and sensing applications for circularly polarized light using a highly integrated photonic platform.

Analysis and detection of circularly polarized light involves the use of multiple optical elements. Here, the authors demonstrate an ultracompact circularly polarized light detector using chiral plasmonic metamaterials with hot electron injection, realizing its implementation on an integrated photonic platform.

Gold triple-helix mid-infrared metamaterial by STED-inspired laser lithography

In analogy to wire-grid polarizers for linear polarization, metal-helix metamaterials can act as broadband circular polarizers. This concept has brought circular-polarization capabilities to mid-infrared and terahertz frequencies, which were previously difficult to access. Due to the lack of rotational symmetry, however, single-helix metamaterials exhibit unwanted circular-polarization conversions. Recent theoretical work showed that conversions can be fully eliminated by intertwining N=3 or 4 helices within each unit cell. While direct laser writing in positive-tone photo-resist yielded good results for single-helix metamaterials operating at mid-infrared frequencies, the axial resolution is insufficient for N-helix metamaterials. Here, we use stimulated emission depletion-inspired three-dimensional laser lithography to fabricate such microstructures. We measure all entries of the Jones transmission and reflection matrices and show experimentally that polarization conversions are minimized, in good agreement with theory.

An Active Metamaterial Platform for Chiral Responsive Optoelectronics

Chiral-selective non-linear optics and optoelectronic signal generation are demonstrated in an electrically active photonic metamaterial. The metamaterial reveals significant chiroptical responses in both harmonic generation and the photon drag effect, correlated to the resonance behavior in the linear regime. The multifunctional chiral metamaterial with dual electrical and optical functionality enables transduction of chiroptical responses to electrical signals for integrated photonics.

Tuning of giant 2D-chiroptical response using achiral metasurface integrated with graphene

Tuning the chiroptical response of a molecule is crucial for detecting the material's chirality. Here, we demonstrate a pronounced circular conversion dichroism (CCD) by using an achiral metasurface (AMS) which is composed of a rectangular reflectarray of Au squares separated from a continuous Au film by a dielectric interlayer. This extrinsically 2D chirality originates from the mutual orientation between the AMS and oblique incident wave. The AMS is further incorporated with graphene to tune the CCD spectra in the mid-infrared (MIR) region by electrically modulating the graphene's Fermi level. This approach offers a high fabrication tolerance and will be a promising candidate for controlling electromagnetic (EM) waves in the MIR region from 1500 to 3000 nm.

Dispersion-free broadband optical polarization rotation based on helix photonic metamaterials

We present a helix photonic metamaterial that exhibits nondispersive optical rotation in a broad passband at optical frequencies. Several features, including zero dispersion, zero ellipticity, and high transmission, can be simultaneously achieved in the presented structure. Pure optical rotation with extremely low dispersion is exhibited in a broad band covering the optical telecommunication wavelengths along with high transmission above 95%. We show that the chiral responses as well as the wavelength-dependent properties of the passband are governed by the behaviors of adjacent resonances. A systematic study of the optical properties with various geometrical parameters is performed, where the dependence of passband properties on resonance behaviors is examined and discussed. Such broadband dispersion-free optical rotation at optical frequencies may be of great interest for high-performance polarization manipulation and relevant applications.

Directed self-assembly of gold nanoparticles into plasmonic chains

The plasmonic behavior of metals at the nanoscale is not only appealing for fundamental studies, but also very useful for the development of innovative photonic devices. The past few decades have witnessed great progress in colloidal synthesis of monodisperse metal nanoparticles with defined shapes. This has significantly fueled up the research of directing the metal nanoparticles to self-assemble into tailored extended structures, especially low dimensional ones, for a better control and manipulation of the interactions of the metal nanoparticles with light. In parallel, theories for a better description of nanoplasmonics have been increasingly developed and improved. Thus, the present review is focused on the overview of current experimental and theoretical developments in the directed self-assembly of metal nanoparticles with tailored plasmonic properties, which, hopefully, will provide useful guidelines for future research studies and applications of nanoplasmonics.

Optically Tunable Chiral Plasmonic Guest-Host Cellulose Films Weaved with Long-range Ordered Silver Nanowires

Plasmonic materials with large chiroptical activity at visible wavelength have attracted considerable attention due to their potential applications in metamaterials. Here we demonstrate a novel guest-host chiral nematic liquid crystal film composed of bulk self-co-assembly of the dispersed plasmonic silver nanowires (AgNWs) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs). The AgNWs-CNCs composite films show strong plasmonic optical activities, that are dependent on the chiral photonic properties of the CNCs host medium and orientation of the guest AgNWs. Tunable chiral distribution of the aligned anisotropic AgNWs with long-range order is obtained through the CNCs liquid crystal mediated realignment. The chiral plasmonic optical activity of the AgNWs-CNCs composite films can be tuned by changing the interparticle electrostatic repulsion between the CNCs nanorods and AgNWs. We also observe an electromagnetic energy transfer phenomena among the plasmonic bands of AgNWs, due to the modulation of the photonic band gap of the CNCs host matrix. This facile approach for fabricating chiral macrostructured plasmonic materials with optically tunable property is of interest for a variety of advanced optics applications.

Electric-field-induced assembly and propulsion of chiral colloidal clusters

Chiral molecules with opposite handedness exhibit distinct physical, chemical, or biological properties. They pose challenges as well as opportunities in understanding the phase behavior of soft matter, designing enantioselective catalysts, and manufacturing single-handed pharmaceuticals. Microscopic particles, arranged in a chiral configuration, could also exhibit unusual optical, electric, or magnetic responses. Here we report a simple method to assemble achiral building blocks, i.e., the asymmetric colloidal dimers, into a family of chiral clusters. Under alternating current electric fields, two to four lying dimers associate closely with a central standing dimer and form both right- and left-handed clusters on a conducting substrate. The cluster configuration is primarily determined by the induced dipolar interactions between constituent dimers. Our theoretical model reveals that in-plane dipolar repulsion between petals in the cluster favors the achiral configuration, whereas out-of-plane attraction between the central dimer and surrounding petals favors a chiral arrangement. It is the competition between these two interactions that dictates the final configuration. The theoretical chirality phase diagram is found to be in excellent agreement with experimental observations. We further demonstrate that the broken symmetry in chiral clusters induces an unbalanced electrohydrodynamic flow surrounding them. As a result, they rotate in opposite directions according to their handedness. Both the assembly and propulsion mechanisms revealed here can be potentially applied to other types of asymmetric particles. Such kinds of chiral colloids will be useful for fabricating metamaterials, making model systems for both chiral molecules and active matter, or building propellers for microscale transport.

Implications of the causality principle for ultra chiral metamaterials

Chiral metamaterials – artificial subwavelength structures with broken mirror symmetry – demonstrate outstanding degree of optical chirality that exhibits sophisticated spectral behavior and can eventually reach extreme values. Based on the fundamental causality principle we show how one can unambiguously relate the metamaterial circular dichroism and optical activity by the generalized Kramers-Kronig relations. Contrary to the conventional relations, the generalized ones provide a unique opportunity of extracting information on material-dependent zeroes of transmission coefficient in the upper half plane of complex frequency. We illustrate the merit of the formulated relations by applying them to the observed ultra chiral optical transmission spectra of subwavelength arrays of chiral holes in silver films. Apart from the possibility of precise verification of experimental data, the relations enable resolving complex eigenfrequencies of metamaterial intrinsic modes and resonances.

Photo-induced optical activity in phase-change memory materials

We demonstrate that optical activity in amorphous isotropic thin films of pure Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ and N-doped Ge₂Sb₂Te₅N phase-change memory materials can be induced using rapid photo crystallisation with circularly polarised laser light. The new anisotropic phase transition has been confirmed by circular dichroism measurements. This opens up the possibility of controlled induction of optical activity at the nanosecond time scale for exploitation in a new generation of high-density optical memory, fast chiroptical switches and chiral metamaterials.

Tuning soft nanostructures in self-assembled supramolecular gels: from morphology control to morphology-dependent functions

Supramolecular gels are one kind of important soft material, in which small low-molecular weight compounds self-assemble into various nanostructures through non-covalent interactions to immobilize the solvents. While there are many important fundamental issues related to the gelation process, such as the design of the gelator, synergism of various non-covalent interactions between gelators, gelator-solvents, the balances between gelation and crystallization and so on, the self-assembled nanostructures forming during gelation are very interesting. These nanostructures have many unique features, such as the flexibility to respond to external stimuli, morphological diversity, ease of fabrication in large quantities, and so on. This review highlights some important features in tuning the nanostructures in the supramolecular gels from their morphological diversity, morphology control, morphology conversion, and morphology-depended functions.

Metamaterials enable chiral-selective enhancement of two-photon luminescence from quantum emitters

The amplification of chirally modified, non-linear signals from quantum emitters is demonstrated by manipulating the geometric chirality of resonant plasmonic nanostructures. The chiral center of the metamaterial is opened and emitters occupy this light-confining and chirally sensitive region. Non-linear emission signals are enhanced by 40× that of the emitters not embedded in the metamaterial and display a 3× contrast for the opposite circular polarization.

Tuning the structural asymmetries of three-dimensional gold nanorod assemblies

A series of 3D AuNR dimers and trimers were fabricated under the guidance of DNA origami.

Local optical responses of plasmon resonances visualised by near-field optical imaging

Near-field optical imaging visualises spatial features of plasmon resonances that cause unique optical characteristics of noble metal nanostructures.

Continuously tuning the spectral response of chiral plasmonic patchy particles through galvanic replacement reaction

We demonstrate the continuous tuning of the circular dichroism spectra of chiral patchy particle arrays using the galvanic replacement reaction.

Fabrication of suspended, three-dimensional chiral plasmonic nanostructures with single-step electron-beam lithography

Suspended 3D chiral plasmonic nanostructure fabricated with only one-step electron-beam lithography.

Plasmonic circular dichroism in side-by-side oligomers of gold nanorods: the influence of chiral molecule location and interparticle distance

The CD signal of Au nanorod assemblies is highly sensitive to the chiral molecule location and the interparticle distance.

Predictive supracolloidal helices from patchy particles

A priori prediction of supracolloidal architectures from nanoparticle and colloidal assembly is a challenging goal in materials chemistry and physics. Despite intense research in this area, much less has been known about the predictive science of supracolloidal helices from designed building blocks. Therefore, developing conceptually new rules to construct supracolloidal architectures with predictive helicity is becoming an important and urgent task of great scientific interest. Here, inspired by biological helices, we show that the rational design of patchy arrangement and interaction can drive patchy particles to self-assemble into biomolecular mimetic supracolloidal helices. We further derive a facile design rule for encoding the target supracolloidal helices, thus opening the doors to the predictive science of these supracolloidal architectures. It is also found that kinetics and reaction pathway during the formation of supracolloidal helices offer a unique way to study supramolecular polymerization, and that well-controlled supracolloidal helices can exhibit tailorable circular dichroism effects at visible wavelengths.

Optical response of threaded chain plasmons: from capacitive chains to continuous nanorods

We present a detailed theoretical analysis of the optical response of threaded plasmonic nanoparticle strings, chains of metallic nanoparticles connected by cylindrical metallic bridges (threads), based on full-electrodynamic calculations. The extinction spectra of these complex metallic nanostructures are dominated by large resonances in the near infrared, which are associated with charge transfer along the entire string. By analysing contour plots of the electric field amplitude and phase we show that such strings can be interpreted as an intermediate situation between metallic nanoparticle chains and metallic nanorods, exhibiting characteristics of both. Modifying the dielectric environment, the number of nanoparticles within the strings, and the dimensions of the threads, allows for tuning the optical response of the strings within a very broad region in the visible and near infrared.

Nonlinear imaging and spectroscopy of chiral metamaterials

A chiral metamaterial produces both distinguishable linear and non-linear resonant features when probed with left and right circularly polarized light. The material demonstrates a linear transmission contrast of 0.5 between left and right circular polarizations and a 20× contrast between second-harmonic responses from the two incident polarizations. Non-linear and linear response images probed with circularly polarized light show strongly defined contrast.

Plasmonic Optical Tweezers toward Molecular Manipulation: Tailoring Plasmonic Nanostructure, Light Source, and Resonant Trapping

This Perspective describes recent progress in optical trappings of nanoparticles based on localized surface plasmon. This plasmonic optical trapping has great advantages over the conventional optical tweezers, being potentially applicable for a molecular manipulation technique. We review this novel trapping technique from the viewpoints of (i) plasmonic nanostructure, (ii) the light source for plasmon excitation, and (iii) the polarizability of the trapping target. These findings give us future outlook for plasmonic optical trapping. In addition to a brief review, recent developments on plasmonic optical trapping of soft nanomaterials such as proteins, polymer chains, and DNA will be discussed to point out the important issue for further development on this trapping method. Finally, we explore new directions of plasmonic optical trapping.

The fabrication of three-dimensional plasmonic chiral structures by dynamic shadowing growth

As chiral metamaterials become increasingly more technologically relevant, scalable, yet proficient nanofabrication methods will be needed for their production. Dynamic shadowing growth (DSG) that takes advantage of the vapor shadowing effect during physical vapor deposition is a simple and powerful tool to produce chiral nanostructures. In this report we describe several new DSG strategies for the scalable production of chiral plasmonic thin films with significant optical activity in the visible and near-infrared wavelength region. Specifically, we demonstrate that by use of metal composite (Ti/Ag) and metal/dielectric composite materials (Ag/MgF2), nanoscale helices can be fabricated using DSG at room temperature. Additionally, we show how self-assembled colloidal monolayers of nanospheres can serve as effective templates for the production of a wide variety of highly chiral films. These films can be used to construct chiral metamaterial-based devices for future applications.

Three-dimensional nanofabrication by block copolymer self-assembly

Thin films of block copolymers are widely seen as enablers for nanoscale fabrication of semiconductor devices, membranes, and other structures, taking advantage of microphase separation to produce well-organized nanostructures with periods of a few nm and above. However, the inherently three-dimensional structure of block copolymer microdomains could enable them to make 3D devices and structures directly, which could lead to efficient fabrication of complex heterogeneous structures. This article reviews recent progress in developing 3D nanofabrication processes based on block copolymers.

Nonlinear superchiral meta-surfaces: tuning chirality and disentangling non-reciprocity at the nanoscale

Circularly polarized light is incident on a nanostructured chiral meta-surface. In the nanostructured unit cells whose chirality matches that of light, superchiral light is forming and strong optical second harmonic generation can be observed.

Complex chiral colloids and surfaces via high-index off-cut silicon

Silicon wafers are commonly etched in potassium hydroxide solutions to form highly symmetric surface structures. These arise when slow-etching {111} atomic planes are exposed on standard low-index surfaces. However, the ability of nonstandard high-index wafers to provide more complex structures by tilting the {111} planes has not been fully appreciated. We demonstrate the power of this approach by creating chiral surface structures and nanoparticles of a specific handedness from gold. When the nanoparticles are dispersed in liquids, gold colloids exhibiting record molar circular dichroism (>5 × 10(9) M(-1) cm(-1)) at red wavelengths are obtained. The nanoparticles also present chiral pockets for binding.

Magnetic field modulation of chirooptical effects in magnetoplasmonic structures

In this work we analyse the magnetic field effects on the chirooptical properties of magnetoplasmonic chiral structures. The structures consist of two-dimensional arrays of Au gammadions in which thin layers of Co have been inserted. Due to the magnetic properties of the Au/Co interface the structures have perpendicular magnetic anisotropy which favours magnetic saturation along the surface normal, allowing magnetic field modulation of the chirooptical response with moderate magnetic fields. These structures have two main resonances. The resonance at 850 nm has a larger chirooptical response than the resonance at 650 nm, which, on the other hand, exhibits a larger magnetic field modulation of its chirooptical response. This dissimilar behaviour is due to the different physical origin of the chirooptical and magneto-optical responses. Whereas the chirooptical effects are due to the geometry of the structures, the magneto-optical response is related to the intensity of the electromagnetic field in the magnetic (Co) layers. We also show that the optical chirality can be modulated by the applied magnetic field, which suggests that magnetoplasmonic chiral structures could be used to develop new strategies for chirooptical sensing.

Slant-gap plasmonic nanoantennas for optical chirality engineering and circular dichroism enhancement

We present a new design of plasmonic nanoantenna with slant gap for optical chirality engineering. At resonance, the slant gap provides highly enhanced electric field parallel to external magnetic field with a phase delay of π/2, resulting in enhanced optical chirality. We show by numerical simulations that upon linearly polarized excitation our nanoantenna can generate near field with enhanced optical chirality which can be tuned by the slant angle and resonance condition. Our design allows chiral analysis with linearly polarized light and may find applications in circular dichroism analysis of chiral matter at surface.

Tunable three-dimensional helically stacked plasmonic layers on nanosphere monolayers

We report a simple and scalable method to fabricate helical chiral plasmonic nanostructures using glancing angle deposition on self-assembled nanosphere monolayers. By controlling the azimuthal rotation of substrates, Ag and SiO2 layers can be helically stacked in left-handed and right-handed fashions to form continuous helices. Finite-difference time-domain simulations confirm the experimental results that show that these plasmonic helices exhibit strong chiroptical responses in the visible to near-IR region, which can be tuned by changing the diameter of nanospheres. With such flexibility in the design, helically stacked plasmonic layers may act as tunable chiral metamaterials, as well as serve as different building blocks for chiral assemblies.

Chiral plasmonic films formed by gold nanorods and cellulose nanocrystals

Chiral plasmonic films have been prepared by incorporating gold nanorods (NRs) in a macroscopic cholesteric film formed by self-assembled cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs). Composite NR-CNC films revealed strong plasmonic chiroptical activity, dependent on the photonic properties of the CNC host and plasmonic properties of the NRs. The plasmonic chiroptical properties of the composite films were tuned by changing the conditions of film preparation. The strategy presented herein paves the way for the scalable and cost-efficient preparation of plasmonic chiral materials.

Imaging the optical near field in plasmonic nanostructures

Over the past five years, new developments in the field of plasmonics have emerged with the goal of finely tuning a variety of metallic nanostructures to enable a desired function. The use of plasmonics in spectroscopy is of course of great interest, due to large local enhancements in the optical near field confined in the vicinity of a metal nanostructure. For a given metal, such enhancements are dependent on the shape of the structure as well as the optical properties (wavelength, phase, polarization) of the impinging light, offering a large degree of control over the optical and spatial localization of the plasmon resonance. In this focal point, we highlight recent work that aims at revealing the spatial position of the localized plasmon resonances using a variety of optical and non-optical methods.