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

Abstract

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.

Chiral All-Dielectric Metasurface Based on Elliptic Resonators with Circular Dichroism Behavior

“…On the other hand, chiral metamaterials [17,18] have attracted much attention due to their interesting properties such as optical activity [19,20], circular dichroism [21], and negative refractive index [20]. In these artificial media, the optical and circular dichroism properties are many orders of magnitude higher than those in natural chiral materials, whereas negative refractive index property can be achieved without combination of negative permeability and negative permittivity.…”

Meta-Chirality: Fundamentals, Construction and Applications

“…He found that the polarization of linearly polarized sunlight was rotated off its original state when it passes through a quartz crystal; the outgoing polarization can be characterized by another polarizer. Optical activity has played an important role in analytical chemistry, crystallography, and molecular biology [2]. It has also been used to detect life forms in space missions, as biological molecules are mainly chiral and would lead to distinctly different physiological responses with different spatial configurations [2].…”

“…Optical activity has played an important role in analytical chemistry, crystallography, and molecular biology [2]. It has also been used to detect life forms in space missions, as biological molecules are mainly chiral and would lead to distinctly different physiological responses with different spatial configurations [2]. The optical rotation and circular dichroism of natural materials are rather weak.…”

Extrinsic chirality of non-concentric plasmonic nanorings

“…Unfortunately, the typical CD signals are very weak and become detectable only when a large number of optically active molecules interact with light upon its propagation. A potential advancement in this field is associated with the use of chiral plasmonic structures, which due to strong interaction with light are capable of generating superchiral local fields and hence lowering detection limits of chiral sensors [2][3][4][5][6].…”