Open AccessLiquid-crystal-loaded chiral metasurfaces for reconfigurable multiband spin-selective light absorption
Author(s) -
Dong Xiao,
Yan Jun Liu,
Shengtao Yin,
Jianxun Liu,
Wei Ji,
Bing Wang,
Dan Luo,
Guixin Li,
Xiao Wei Sun
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.26.025305
Subject(s) - liquid crystal , circular polarization , absorption (acoustics) , optics , optoelectronics , materials science , photonic crystal , plasmon , chirality (physics) , spin (aerodynamics) , photonics , metamaterial , physics , symmetry breaking , chiral symmetry breaking , quantum mechanics , nambu–jona lasinio model , thermodynamics , microstrip
Light absorption plays a key role in numerous photonic devices. In this work, we theoretically demonstrate that multiband circularly polarized light can be spin-selectively absorbed with a single-layered metasurface. The difference of absorption efficiency between left- and right-handed circularly polarized light can reach 40%. This giant chiroptical effect originates from different plasmonic resonances induced by the incident circularly polarized light with opposite spin states. Furthermore, by integrating the metasurface with nematic liquid crystals, the spin-selective absorption and the chirality can be dynamically reconfigured via applying a bias voltage. The advantageous features of being multiband-absorptive, backplane-free and reconfigurable make our proposed liquid-crystal-loaded chiral metasurfaces potentially useful for various photonic applications.