Hybrid Plasmonic Twisted L-Shaped Metamaterials: A New Pathway to Tailorable Optical Chirality

ORAL

Abstract

We introduce a new class of plasmonic hybrid twisted L-shaped (nanoboomerang) metamaterials (MMs) in which silicon (Si) nanocolumns are sub-segmented and plasmonic silver (Ag) nanosegments are integrated, forming periodic Si–Ag interfaces that enable active control of optical chirality. By tuning the Ag fill fraction and segment geometry, we demonstrate precise spectral tailoring of chiroptical response. Mueller-matrix generalized spectroscopic ellipsometry is employed to distinguish intrinsic and extrinsic contributions to circular dichroism, providing a robust method to eliminate artifacts associated with linear anisotropy. The presented MM system also enables the experimental extraction of both intrinsic (originates from the meta-atom’s twisted, mirror-asymmetric geometry) and extrinsic (arises collectively through array symmetry) chirality regimes[1,2]. Finite element modeling further reveals that the engineered metal–dielectric junctions lead to strong electromagnetic coupling, inducing multipole interference and broadband enhancement of the chiroptical response.

Reference

[1]G. Zhu et al.,ACSAppl.Opt.Mater.2,1209,(2024).

[2]U. Kilic et al.,Nat.Commun.15,3757(2024).

*This work is supported by the NSF Grants No. ECCS 2329940, DMR 1808715, CMMI 2211858, 2224456, OIA-2044049, AFOSR Grants No. FA9550-18-1-0360, FA9550-19-S-0003, FA9550-21-1-0259, FA9550-23-1-0574DEF, and NASA Nebraska Space Grant (Award#80NSSC25M7128).

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Publication: Kilic, U., et al. "Controlling the broadband enhanced light chirality with L-shaped dielectric metamaterials," Nature Communications 15, 3757 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-48051-4

Kilic, U., et al. "Plasmonic Hybrid Nanoboomerang Metamaterial Platforms," Journal Paper, in submission (2025).

Presenters

  • UFUK KILIC

    • University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Authors

  • UFUK KILIC

    • University of Nebraska - Lincoln

  • Raymond Simith

    • University of Nebraska Lincoln

  • Yousra Traouli

    • University of Nebraska - Lincoln

  • Shawn Wimer

    • University of Nebraska-Lincoln
    • University of Nebraska Lincoln

  • Matthew Hilfiker

    • University of Nebraska Lincoln

  • Christos Argyropoulos

    • Pennsylvania State University

  • Eva B SCHUBERT

    • University of Nebraska Lincoln
    • University of Nebraska-Lincoln

  • Mathias Schubert

    • University of Nebraska-Lincoln
    • University of Nebraska Lincoln
    • Lund Univ/Lund Inst of Tech