No Arabic abstract
Circular dichroism (CD), induced by chirality, is an important tool for manipulating light or for characterizing morphology of molecules, proteins, crystals and nano-structures. CD is manifested over a wide size-range, from molecules to crystals or large nanostructures. Being a weak phenomenon (small fraction of absorption), CD is routinely measured on macroscopic amount of matter in solution, crystals, or arrays of fabricated meta-particles. These measurements mask the sensitivity of CD to small structural variation in nano-objects. Recently, several groups reported on chiroptical effects in individual nanoscale objects: Some, using near-field microscopy, where the tip-object interaction requires consideration. Some, using dark field scattering on large objects, and others by monitoring the fluorescence of individual chiral molecules. Here, we report on the direct observation of CD in individual nano-objects by far field extinction microscopy. CD measurements of both chiral shaped nanostructures (Gammadions) and nanocrystals (HgS) with chiral lattice structure are reported.
Light interaction with rotating nanostructures gives rise to phenemona as varied as optical torques and quantum friction. Here we reveal that circular dichroism of rotating optically-isotropic particles has an unexpectedly strong dependence on their internal geometry. In particular, nanorings and nanocrosses exhibit a splitting of $2Omega$ in the particle optical resonances, while compact particles display weak circular dichroism at low rotation frequency $Omega$, but a strong circular dichroism at high $Omega$. We base our findings on a quantum-mechanical description of the polarizability of rotating particles, which has not been rigorously addressed so far. Specifically, we use the random-phase approximation and populate the particle electronic states according to the principle that they are thermally equilibrated in the rotating frame. We further provide insight into the rotational superradience effect and the ensuing optical gain, originating in population inversion as regarded from the lab frame, in which the particle is out of equilibrium. Surprisingly, we find the optical frequency cutoff for superradiance to deviate from the rotation frequency $Omega$. Our results unveil a rich, unexplored phenomenology of light interaction with rotating objects.
We report a series of experimental, analytical and numerical studies demonstrating strong circular dichroism in helically twisted hollow-core single-ring photonic crystal fiber (SR-PCF), formed by spinning the preform during fiber drawing. In the SR-PCFs studied, the hollow core is surrounded by a single ring of non-touching capillaries. Coupling between these capillaries results in the formation of helical Bloch modes carrying orbital angular momentum. In the twisted fiber, strong circular birefringence appears in the ring, so that when a core mode with a certain circular polarization state (say LC) phase-matches to the ring, the other (RC) is strongly dephased. If in addition the orbital angular momentum is the same in core and ring, and the polarization states are non-orthogonal (e.g., slightly elliptical), the LC core mode will experience high loss while the RC mode is efficiently transmitted. The result is a single-circular-polarization SR-PCF that acts as a circular polarizer over a certain wavelength range. Such fibers have many potential applications, for example, for generating circularly polarized light in gas-filled SR-PCF and realizing polarizing elements in the deep and vacuum ultraviolet.
It is shown theoretically that a nonchiral, two-dimensional array of metallic spheres exhibits optical activity as manifested in calculations of circular dichroism. The metallic spheres occupy the sites of a rectangular lattice and for off-normal incidence they show a strong circular-dichroism effect around the surface plasmon frequencies. The optical activity is a result of the rectangular symmetry of the lattice which gives rise to different polarizations modes of the crystal along the two orthogonal primitive lattice vectors. These two polarization modes result in a net polar vector, which forms a chiral triad with the wavevector and the vector normal to the plane of spheres. The formation of this chiral triad is responsible for the observed circular dichroism, although the structure itself is intrinsically nonchiral.
The optical properties of some nanomaterials can be controlled by an external magnetic field, providing active functionalities for a wide range of applications, from single-molecule sensing to nanoscale nonreciprocal optical isolation. Materials with broadband tunable magneto-optical response are therefore highly desired for various components in next-generation integrated photonic nanodevices. Concurrently, hyperbolic metamaterials received a lot of attention in the past decade since they exhibit unusual properties that are rarely observed in nature and provide an ideal platform to control the optical response at the nanoscale via careful design of the effective permittivity tensor, surpassing the possibilities of conventional systems. Here, we experimentally study magnetic circular dichroism in a metasurface made of type-II hyperbolic nanoparticles on a transparent substrate. Numerical simulations confirm the experimental findings, and an analytical model is established to explain the physical origin of the observed magneto-optical effects, which can be described in terms of the coupling of fundamental electric and magnetic dipole modes with an external magnetic field. Our system paves the way for the development of nanophotonic active devices combining the benefits of sub-wavelength light manipulation in hyperbolic metamaterials supporting a large density of optical states with the ability to freely tune the magneto-optical response via control over the anisotropic permittivity of the system.
The circular dichroism (CD) spectra of single-wall carbon nanotubes are calculated using a dipole approximation. The calculated CD spectra show features that allow us to distinguish between nanotubes with different angles of chirality, and diameters. These results provide theoretical support for the quantification of chirality and its measurement, using the CD lineshapes of chiral nanotubes. It is expected that this information would be useful to motivate further experimental studies.