Optically controllable THz chiral metamaterials

Gradient-assisted metasurface absorber with dual-band chiral switching and quasi-linearly tunable circular dichroism

Chiral metasurfaces with tunable or switchable circular dichroism (CD) responses hold great potential for advanced optical devices. In this work, we theoretically propose and numerically demonstrate a chiral metasurface absorber composed of periodically serrated Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) resonators. By harnessing strong plasmonic resonance using the gradient geometry, we achieve a strongly enhanced chiral response with a CD value of 0.98 at λ2 = 2359 nm and a CD value of 0.7 at λ1 = 2274 nm. Additionally, by controlling the gradient difference in the serrated GST resonator, we can modify the CD intensity in multiple dimensions and near-perfectly optimize the chiral properties. Furthermore, it is worth noting that the CD value can be strongly varied by adjusting the phase transition characteristics of GST in the range of 0.007 to 0.7 at λ1 and 0.002 to 0.98 at λ2, corresponding to a switch between "on" and "off" states. The findings give new insight into multi-functional chiroptics and hold wide applications.

Spiral Chiral Metamaterial Structure Shape for Optical Activity Improvements

We report on a spiral structure suitable for obtaining a large optical response. We constructed a structural mechanics model of the shape of the planar spiral structure when deformed and verified the effectiveness of the model. As a verification structure, we fabricated a large-scale spiral structure that operates in the GHz band by laser processing. Based on the GHz radio wave experiments, a more uniform deformation structure exhibited a higher cross-polarization component. This result suggests that uniform deformation structures can improve circular dichroism. Since large-scale devices enable speedy prototype verification, the obtained knowledge can be exported to miniaturized-scale devices, such as MEMS terahertz metamaterials.

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 5.095 THz 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 biosensing using terahertz twisted chiral metamaterial

Subwavelength chiral metamaterials with tunable geometries and compositions are essential to advance the development of chiral biochemical samples detection. Here, we report a spatial symmetry breaking chiral terahertz (THz) metamaterial structure with stacked layers of L-shape arranged gold disks as the periodic unit cell. The chiroptical response can be adjusted on-demand by manipulating the number of stacking layers and the twisted angle of the periodic unit between adjacent array layers. We reveal that the chiroptical response originates from the optical resonances of the gold disks and the adjacent gold disks array layers via experiments and numerical simulation analysis. Furthermore, we find that this chiral metamaterial can realize label-free detection of proline in biological samples and label-free enantio-discrimination of chiral molecules. The change of the analyte concentration can also regulate the transmission circular dichroism (TCD) intensity of the chiral metamaterials. Our results not only provide new ideas into the design of functional chiral metamaterials, but also bring new strategies to develop chiroptical biosensing devices.

Electrothermally tunable terahertz cross-shaped metamaterial for opto-logic operation characteristics

We propose and demonstrate a metamaterial design by integrating a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) electrothermal actuator (ETA) platform and a cross-shaped metamaterial (CSM) to perform opto-logic function characteristics. Reconfigurable and stretchable mechanisms of CSM are achieved by driving different DC bias voltages on ETA to improve the limitations induced by the conventional use of the flexible substrate. The optical responses of CSM are tunable by the electrical signals inputs. By driving a DC bias voltage of 0.20 V, a tuning range of CSM is 0.54 THz is obtained and it and provides perfect zero-transmission characteristics. In addition, the “XNOR” logic gate function of CSM is realized at 1.20 THz, which plays a key role in the all opto-logic network communication system. The proposed MEMS-based CSM exhibits potential applications in logical operation, signal modulation, optical switching, THz imaging, and so on.

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MEMS-based metamaterial is used to perform the opto-logic function

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When driving a DC bias voltage of 0.20 V, the tuning range is 0.54 THz

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“XNOR” logic gate function can be realized at 1.20 THz

Mechanical modulation of multifunctional responses in three-dimensional terahertz metamaterials

Reconfigurable metamaterials have attracted a surge of attention for their formidable capability to dynamically manipulate the electromagnetic wave. Among the multifarious modulation methods, mechanical deformation is widely adopted to tune the electromagnetic response of the stereotype metamaterial owing to its straightforward and continuous controllability on the metamaterial structure. However, previous morphologic reconfigurations of metamaterials are typically confined in planar deformation that renders limited tunable functionalities. Here we have proposed a novel concept of out-of-plane deformation to broaden the functionalities of mechanically reconfigurable metamaterials via introducing a cross-shaped metamaterial. Our results show that the out-of-plane mechanical modulation dramatically enhances the magnetic response of the pristine metamaterial. Furthermore, by uncrossing the bars of cross-shaped meta-atoms, a L-shaped metamaterial is proposed to verify the effectiveness of such a mechanical method on the handedness switching via changing mechanical loading-paths. More importantly, the differential transmission for circularly polarized incidences can be continuously modulated from -0.45 to 0.45, and the polarization states of the transmission wave can be dynamically manipulated under the linearly polarized illumination. Our proposed mechanical modulation principle might open a novel avenue toward the three-dimensional reconfigurable metamaterials and shows their ample applications in the areas of chiroptical control, tunable polarization rotator and converter.

Phase-change metasurface with tunable and switchable circular dichroism

Metasurfaces with tunable/switchable circular dichroism (CD) response have great potential to serve as important elements for plenty of advanced applications. In this work, we proposed a novel metasurface absorber integrated with periodic ${{\rm Ge}_2}{{\rm Sb}_2}{{\rm Te}_5}$ (GST) resonators and numerically demonstrated its capability in reconfiguration of the CD effect. Due to the strong chiral plasmonic resonance, a strong CD of about 0.75 can be achieved in a prescribed spectrum. Additionally, the phase transition of GST resonators enables the quasi-linearly modification of CD strength in a broad range (from 0.03 to 0.75). Furthermore, reversible chirality of the metasurface absorber can be realized by controlling the states of the left- and right-hand GST resonators separately, enabling the CD signal to be readily switched between on-, off-, and reverse-state.

Tunable quantum two-photon interference with reconfigurable metasurfaces using phase-change materials

The ability of phase-change materials to reversibly and rapidly switch between two stable phases has driven their use in a number of applications such as data storage and optical modulators. Incorporating such materials into metasurfaces enables new approaches to the control of optical fields. In this article we present the design of novel switchable metasurfaces that enable the control of the nonclassical two-photon quantum interference. These structures require no static power consumption, operate at room temperature, and have high switching speed. For the first adaptive metasurface presented in this article, tunable nonclassical two-photon interference from -97.7% (anti-coalescence) to 75.48% (coalescence) is predicted. For the second adaptive geometry, the quantum interference switches from -59.42% (anti-coalescence) to 86.09% (coalescence) upon a thermally driven crystallographic phase transition. The development of compact and rapidly controllable quantum devices is opening up promising paths to brand-new quantum applications as well as the possibility of improving free space quantum logic gates, linear-optics bell experiments, and quantum phase estimation systems.

Dynamically reversible and strong circular dichroism based on Babinet-invertible chiral metasurfaces

We propose a Babinet-invertible chiral metasurface for achieving dynamically reversible and strong circular dichroism (CD). The proposed metasurface is composed of a VO₂-metal hybrid structure, and when VO₂ transits between the dielectric state and the metallic state, the metasurface unit cell switches between complementary structures that are designed according to Babinet's principle. This leads to a large and reversible CD tuning range between ±0.5 at 0.97 THz, which is larger than the one found in the literature. We attribute the CD effect to extrinsic chirality of the proposed metasurface. We envision that the Babinet-invertible chiral metasurface proposed here will advance the engineering of active and tunable chiro-optical devices and promote their applications.

Scattering Properties of PT-Symmetric Chiral Metamaterials

The combination of gain and loss in optical systems that respect parity–time (PT)-symmetry has pointed recently to a variety of novel optical phenomena and possibilities. Many of them can be realized by combining the PT-symmetry concepts with metamaterials. Here we investigate the case of chiral metamaterials, showing that combination of chiral metamaterials with PT-symmetric gain–loss enables a very rich variety of phenomena and functionalities. Examining a simple one-dimensional chiral PT-symmetric system, we show that, with normally incident waves, the PT-symmetric and the chirality-related characteristics can be tuned independently and superimposed almost at will. On the other hand, under oblique incidence, chirality affects all the PT-related characteristics, leading also to novel and uncommon wave propagation features, such as asymmetric transmission and asymmetric optical activity and ellipticity. All these features are highly controllable both by chirality and by the angle of incidence, making PT-symmetric chiral metamaterials valuable in a large range of polarization-control-targeting applications.

Optically tunable terahertz chiral metasurface based on multi-layered graphene

Active manipulation of the polarization states at terahertz frequencies is crucially helpful for polarization-sensitive spectroscopy, having significant applications such as non-contact Hall measurements, vibrational circular dichroism measurements and anisotropy imaging. The weakness of polarization manipulation provided by natural materials can be overcomed by chiral metamaterials. Chiral metamaterials have a huge potential to achieve the necessary polarization effects, hence they provide the basis for applications such as ultracompact polarization components. Terahertz chiral metamaterials that allow dynamic polarization modulation of terahertz waves are of great practical interest and still challenging. Here, we show that terahertz metasurface based on the four conjugated “petal” resonators integrated with multi-layered graphene (MLG) can enable dynamically tunable chiroptical response using optical pumping. In particular, a change of ellipticity angle of 20° is observed around 0.76 THz under optical pumping by a 980 nm continuous wave (CW) laser. Furthermore, using temporal coupled-mode theory, our study also reveals that the chiroptical response of the proposed multi-layered graphene-based metasurface is strongly dependent on the influence of optical pumping on the loss parameters of resonance modes, leading to actively controllable polarization states of the transmitted terahertz waves. The present work paves the way for the realization of fundamental terahertz components capable for active polarization manipulation.

Chiral Metamaterials with PT Symmetry and Beyond

Optical systems with gain and loss that respect parity-time (PT) symmetry can have real eigenvalues despite their non-Hermitian character. Chiral systems impose circularly polarized waves which do not preserve their handedness under the combined space- and time-reversal operations and, as a result, seem to be incompatible with systems possessing PT symmetry. Nevertheless, in this work we show that in certain configurations, PT symmetric permittivity, permeability, and chirality is possible; in addition, real eigenvalues are maintained even if the chirality goes well beyond PT symmetry. By obtaining all three constitutive parameters in realistic chiral metamaterials through simulations and retrieval, we show that the chirality can be tailored independently of permittivity and permeability; thus, in such systems, a wide control of new optical properties including advanced polarization control is achieved.

Active perfect absorber based on planar anisotropic chiral metamaterials

Active chiral plasmonics have attracted a considerable amount of research interest for their power to switch the handedness of chiral metamaterials and the potential applications in highly integrated polarization sensitive devices, stereo display fields, and so on. In this work, we propose a kind of active chiral metamaterial absorber (ACMA) composed by planar anisotropic chiral metamaterials (PACMs) and a metal layer. Our in-depth theoretical analysis indicates that the circular conversion dichroism (CCD) from PACMs plays a crucial role to achieve the active chiroptical effect. The CCD effect can enable a differentiated microcavity-interference effect between the left and right circular incident lights and results in a chiroptical effect related to the equivalent optical length between the PACMs and the metal layer. In simulations, a high-performance ACMA, which are composed by the 'Z'-shaped PACMs, is designed, and the maximum reflection CD_R from ACMA can reach 0.882. Meanwhile, the minimum reflection CD_R can reach to 0, resulting a very large adjustable range of from 0 to 0.882. The maximum modulation sensitivity, which is defined as M_n=∂CD_R/∂n and M_d=∂CD_R/∂d, can reach to about 1368.252 for d=100um and 0.06157 nm^-1 for n=4.5,respectively. In addition to the active chiroptical effect, the designed ACMA also shows excellent performance as a sensor, such as when it is being used as a highly-sensitive temperature sensor. In that case, the minimum detected precision can reach approximately 3.067 * 10^-8 °C, if VO₂ is used to fill the FP cavity.

Meta-Chirality: Fundamentals, Construction and Applications

Chiral metamaterials represent a special type of artificial structures that cannot be superposed to their mirror images. Due to the lack of mirror symmetry, cross-coupling between electric and magnetic fields exist in chiral mediums and present unique electromagnetic characters of circular dichroism and optical activity, which provide a new opportunity to tune polarization and realize negative refractive index. Chiral metamaterials have attracted great attentions in recent years and have given rise to a series of applications in polarization manipulation, imaging, chemical and biological detection, and nonlinear optics. Here we review the fundamental theory of chiral media and analyze the construction principles of some typical chiral metamaterials. Then, the progress in extrinsic chiral metamaterials, absorbing chiral metamaterials, and reconfigurable chiral metamaterials are summarized. In the last section, future trends in chiral metamaterials and application in nonlinear optics are introduced.

Blueshift and phase tunability in planar THz metamaterials: the role of losses and toroidal dipole contribution

We propose a model of tunable THz metamaterials. The main advantage is the blueshift of resonance and phase tunability due to inductive coupling in planar metallic metamolecules with incorporated silicon wires. We discuss the role of losses and toroidal dipole contribution to metamaterial response.

A Reconfigurable Active Huygens' Metalens

Metasurfaces enable a new paradigm to control electromagnetic waves by manipulating subwavelength artificial structures within just a fraction of wavelength. Despite the rapid growth, simultaneously achieving low-dimensionality, high transmission efficiency, real-time continuous reconfigurability, and a wide variety of reprogrammable functions is still very challenging, forcing researchers to realize just one or few of the aforementioned features in one design. This study reports a subwavelength reconfigurable Huygens' metasurface realized by loading it with controllable active elements. The proposed design provides a unified solution to the aforementioned challenges of real-time local reconfigurability of efficient Huygens' metasurfaces. As one exemplary demonstration, a reconfigurable metalens at the microwave frequencies is experimentally realized, which, to the best of the knowledge, demonstrates for the first time that multiple and complex focal spots can be controlled simultaneously at distinct spatial positions and reprogrammable in any desired fashion, with fast response time and high efficiency. The presented active Huygens' metalens may offer unprecedented potentials for real-time, fast, and sophisticated electromagnetic wave manipulation such as dynamic holography, focusing, beam shaping/steering, imaging, and active emission control.

Numerical study of tunable enhanced chirality in multilayer stack achiral phase-change metamaterials

We numerically demonstrate a multiband circular dichroism (CD) by tilting achiral metamaterials (MMs) composed of an elliptical nanoholes array (ENA) penetrating through metal/ phase-change material (PCM) /metal multilayer stack, with respect to the incident light. The CD spectrum can be actively tuned across a wide range from the near-infrared (NIR) to mid-infrared (MIR) regime by transiting the state of the PCM (Ge₂Sb₂Te₅) from amorphous to crystalline. Thus, it can switch on/off a multiband chiroptical response in the infrared region. Our simulation also elucidates that the achiral multilayer stack MMs, which have strong magnetic resonances, can enhance the optical chirality inside the elliptical apertures for both amorphous and crystalline states. The switching of the enhanced chirality may pave the way to manipulate electromagnetic waves, such as tunable circular polarizers, chiroptical spectroscopy, and chiral biosensors.

A terahertz in-line polarization converter based on through-via connected double layer slot structures

A terahertz (THz) in-line polarization converter that yields a polarization conversion ratio as high as 99.9% is demonstrated at 1 THz. It has double-layer slot structures oriented in orthogonal directions that are electrically connected by 1/8-wavelngth-long through-via holes beside the slot structures. The slots on the front metal-plane respond to the incident THz wave with polarization orthogonal to the slots and generates a circulating surface current around the slots. The surface current propagates along a pair of through-via holes that function as a two-wire transmission line. The propagating current generates a surface current around the backside slot structures oriented orthogonal to the slot structures on the front metal layer. The circulating current generates a terahertz wave polarized orthogonal to the backside slot structures and the 90° polarization conversion is completed. The re-radiating THz wave with 90° converted polarization propagates in the same direction as the incident THz wave.

Optical chiral metamaterials: a review of the fundamentals, fabrication methods and applications

Optical chiral metamaterials have recently attracted considerable attention because they offer new and exciting opportunities for fundamental research and practical applications. Through pragmatic designs, the chiroptical response of chiral metamaterials can be several orders of magnitude higher than that of natural chiral materials. Meanwhile, the local chiral fields can be enhanced by plasmonic resonances to drive a wide range of physical and chemical processes in both linear and nonlinear regimes. In this review, we will discuss the fundamental principles of chiral metamaterials, various optical chiral metamaterials realized by different nanofabrication approaches, and the applications and future prospects of this emerging field.

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.

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.

Active Chiral Plasmonics

Active control over the handedness of a chiral metamaterial has the potential to serve as key element for highly integrated polarization engineering approaches, polarization sensitive imaging devices, and stereo display technologies. However, this is hard to achieve as it seemingly involves the reconfiguration of the metamolecule from a left-handed into a right-handed enantiomer and vice versa. This type of mechanical actuation is intricate and usually neither monolithically realizable nor viable for high-speed applications. Here, enabled by the phase change material Ge3Sb2Te6 (GST-326), we demonstrate a tunable and switchable mid-infrared plasmonic chiral metamaterial in a proof-of-concept experiment. A large tunability range of the circular dichroism response from λ = 4.15 to 4.90 μm is achieved, and we experimentally demonstrate that the combination of a passive bias-type chiral layer with the active chiral metamaterial allows for switchable chirality, that is, the reversal of the circular dichroism sign, in a fully planar, layered design without the need for geometrical reconfiguration. Because phase change materials can be electrically and optically switched, our designs may open up a path for highly integrated mid-IR polarization engineering devices that can be modulated on ultrafast time scales.

An ultrathin terahertz quarter-wave plate using planar babinet-inverted metasurface

Metamaterials promise an exotic approach to artificially manipulate the polarization state of electromagnetic waves and boost the design of polarimetric devices for sensitive detection, imaging and wireless communication. Here, we present the design and experimental demonstration of an ultrathin (0.29λ) terahertz quarter-wave plate based on planar babinet-inverted metasurface. The quarter-wave plate consisting of arrays of asymmetric cross apertures reveals a high transmission of 0.545 with 90 degrees phase delay at 0.870 THz. The calculated ellipticity indicates a high degree of polarization conversion from linear to circular polarization. With respect to different incident polarization angles, left-handed circular polarized light, right-handed circular polarized light and elliptically polarized light can be created by this novel design. An analytical model is applied to describe transmitted amplitude, phase delay and ellipticitiy, which are in good agreement with the measured and simulated results. The planar babinet-inverted metasurface with the analytical model opens up avenues for new functional terahertz devices design.