Abstract
We demonstrated Tai Chi chiral metamaterials of mirror-symmetric and complementary structures in terahertz (THz) region. We investigated the properties of these structures by calculating the transmissions under different circularly polarization waves and analyzing the surface current distributions. The chiral mirror-symmetric structure has circular dichroism and strong optical activity due to electromagnetic field coupling between layers with sub-wavelength thickness. Moreover, the structures with multiple metallic layers or twist angle between layers can realize chirality tunability, which can be used for THz polarized devices. Besides, the complementary structure has potential applications for polarization-insensitive devices in THz region.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Kwon D-H, Werner PL, Werner DH (2008) Optical planar chiral metamaterial designs for strong circular dichroism and polarization rotation. Opt Express 16(16):11802–11807
Atkins PW, De Paula J (2005) The elements of physical chemistry. Oxford University Press, New York
Xu X et al (2011) Flexible visible–infrared metamaterials and their applications in highly sensitive chemical and biological sensing. Nano Lett 11(8):3232–3238
Pendry J (2004) A chiral route to negative refraction. Science 306(5700):1353–1355
Tretyakov S, Sihvola A, Jylhä L (2005) Backward-wave regime and negative refraction in chiral composites. Photonics Nanostruct Fundam Appl 3(2–3):107–115
Zhang S et al (2009) Negative refractive index in chiral metamaterials. Phys Rev Lett 102(2):023901
Li Z et al (2010) Chiral metamaterials with negative refractive index based on four “U” split ring resonators. Appl Phys Lett 97(8):081901
Li Z et al (2011) Complementary chiral metamaterials with giant optical activity and negative refractive index. Appl Phys Lett 98(16):161907
Bai B et al (2007) Optical activity in planar chiral metamaterials: theoretical study. Phys Rev A 76(2):023811
Cheng YZ et al (2013) Chiral metamaterials with giant optical activity and negative refractive index based on complementary conjugate-swastikas structure. J Electromagn Waves and Appl 27(8):1068–1076
Decker M et al (2007) Circular dichroism of planar chiral magnetic metamaterials. Opt Lett 32(7):856–858
Plum E et al (2009) Metamaterial with negative index due to chirality. Phys Rev B 79(3):035407
Li Z, Mutlu M, Ozbay E (2013) Chiral metamaterials: from optical activity and negative refractive index to asymmetric transmission. J Opt 15(2):023001
Liu Y, Cheng Y, Cheng ZZ (2014) A numerical parameter study of chiral metamaterial based on complementary U-shaped structure in infrared region. Opt-Int J Light Electron Optics 125(3):1316–1319
Cui Y et al (2014) Giant chiral optical response from a twisted-arc metamaterial. Nano Lett 14(2):1021–1025
Li J, Yang F-Q, Dong J-F (2011) Design and simulation of L-shaped chiral negative refractive index structure. Prog Electromagn Res 116:395–408
Cheng Y, Nie Y, Gong RZ (2012) Giant optical activity and negative refractive index using complementary U-shaped structure assembly. Prog Electromagn Res M 25:239–253
Li Z et al (2012) Composite chiral metamaterials with negative refractive index and high values of the figure of merit. Opt Express 20(6):6146–6156
Zarifi D, Soleimani M, Nayyeri V (2012) A novel dual-band chiral metamaterial structure with giant optical activity and negative refractive index. J Electromagn Waves Appl 26(2–3):251–263
Hendry E et al (2010) Ultrasensitive detection and characterization of biomolecules using superchiral fields. Nat Nanotechnol 5(11):783–787
Ye Y, He S (2010) 90 polarization rotator using a bilayered chiral metamaterial with giant optical activity. Appl Phys Lett 96(20):203501
Sabah C, Roskos HG (2012) Design of a terahertz polarization rotator based on a periodic sequence of chiral-metamaterial and dielectric slabs. Prog Electromagn Res 124:301–314
Wang B, Koschny T, Soukoulis CM (2009) Wide-angle and polarization-independent chiral metamaterial absorber. Phys Rev B 80(3):033108
Azad AK, Dai J, Zhang W (2006) Transmission properties of terahertz pulses through subwavelength double split-ring resonators. Opt Lett 31(5):634–636
Gu J et al (2009) A close-ring pair terahertz metamaterial resonating at normal incidence. Opt Express 17(22):20307–20312
He M et al (2011) Negative refractive index in chiral spiral metamaterials at terahertz frequencies. Opt Int J Light Electron Opt 122(18):1676–1679
Hu F et al (2014) Polarization-dependent terahertz metamaterial absorber with high absorption in two orthogonal directions. Opt Commun 332:321–326
Wang B et al (2009) Chiral metamaterials: simulations and experiments. J Opt A Pure Appl Opt 11(11):114003
Liu N, Giessen H (2010) Coupling effects in optical metamaterials. Angew Chem Int Ed 49(51):9838–9852
Yin X et al (2013) Interpreting chiral nanophotonic spectra: the plasmonic Born–Kuhn Model. Nano Lett 13(12):6238–6243
Hu F et al (2013) Design of a polarization insensitive multiband terahertz metamaterial absorber. J Phys D Appl Phys 46(19):195103
Barron LD (2004) Molecular light scattering and optical activity, 2nd edn. University Press Cambridge, Cambridge
Dong J et al (2009) Bi-layer cross chiral structure with strong optical activity and negative refractive index. Opt Express 17(16):14172–14179
Xiong X et al (2010) Construction of a chiral metamaterial with a U-shaped resonator assembly. Phys Rev B 81(7):075119
Zhou J et al (2012) Terahertz chiral metamaterials with giant and dynamically tunable optical activity. Phys Rev B 86(3):035448
Rogacheva A et al (2006) Giant gyrotropy due to electromagnetic-field coupling in a bilayered chiral structure. Phys Rev Lett 97(17):177401
Liu N et al (2007) Plasmon hybridization in stacked cut-wire metamaterials. Adv Mater 19(21):3628–3632
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by National Science Foundation of China (No. 11374240 and 61265005), Natural Science basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (No. 2012KJXX-27), Ph.D. Programs Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (No. 20136101110007), Key Laboratory Science Research Plan of Shaanxi Education Department (13JS101), National Key Basic Research Program (2014CB339800).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Huang, Y., Yao, Z., Wang, Q. et al. Coupling Tai Chi Chiral Metamaterials with Strong Optical Activity in Terahertz Region. Plasmonics 10, 1005–1011 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-015-9892-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-015-9892-7