Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 12, 2025

08:01
Spectral and Angle-Resolved Magneto-Optical Characterization of Photonic Nanostructures
Published on: November 21, 2019
7.5K
Extraordinary Multipole Modes and Ultra-Enhanced Optical Lateral Force by Chirality
Tongtong Zhu1,2, Yuzhi Shi3,4, Weiqiang Ding5
1School of Optoelectronic Engineering and Instrumentation Science, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China.
Physical Review Letters
|August 16, 2020
Summary
Chiral nanocylinders exhibit unique multipole modes, enabling enhanced optical lateral forces and scattering. This study reveals complex correlations for advanced optical manipulation.
Area of Science:
- Nanophotonics and Metamaterials
- Quantum Optics and Light-Matter Interactions
Background:
- Strong mode coupling and Fano resonances in nanostructures are crucial for nonlinear optics and sensing.
- Electromagnetic multipole modes (quadrupoles, octupoles, toroidal dipoles, anapoles) are well-studied in dielectric nanostructures.
- Light-matter interactions in single chiral nanostructures remain underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate extraordinary multipole superposition in chiral nanocylinders.
- To explore the impact of these multipoles on optical lateral forces and scattering.
- To reveal the interplay between multipolar effects, chiral coupling, and optical forces.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical analysis of light-matter interactions in chiral nanocylinders.
- Investigation of multipole mode superposition (toroidal dipoles, sextupoles).
- Simulation of optical lateral forces and scattering cross sections.
Main Results:
- Simultaneous superposition of unique multipoles (e.g., opposing toroidal dipoles, electric/magnetic sextupoles) in chiral nanocylinders.
- Significant enhancement or suppression of optical lateral forces and scattering cross sections.
- Demonstration of high-Q factors and bound states in the continuum effects.
Conclusions:
- Chiral nanocylinders host complex multipolar effects previously unobserved.
- These effects enable tunable optical lateral forces and scattering for advanced manipulation.
- This work bridges multipolar physics, chirality, and optical force applications.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Chirality in Nature
16.2K
Chirality is the most intriguing yet essential facet of nature, governing life’s biochemical processes and precision. It can be observed from a snail shell pattern in a macroscopic world to an amino acid, the minutest building block of life. Most of the snails around the world have right-coiled shells because of the intrinsic chirality in their genes. All the amino acids present in the human body exist in an enantiomerically pure state, except for glycine - the sole achiral amino acid.
16.2K
Properties of Enantiomers and Optical Activity
20.6K
It is essential to understand the difference between chiral and achiral interactions and the implications thereof in optical activity and their applications. Just as our feet, which are chiral, interact uniquely with chiral objects, such as a pair of shoes, but identically with achiral socks, enantiomers of a molecule exhibit different properties only when they interact with other chiral media. An example of a significant implication from this facet is the phenomenon known as optical activity,...
20.6K
Chirality
28.6K
Chirality is a term that describes the lack of mirror symmetry in an object. In other words, chiral objects cannot be superposed on their mirror images. For example, our feet are chiral, as the mirror image of the left foot, the right foot, cannot be superposed on the left foot.
Chiral objects exhibit a sense of handedness when they interact with another chiral object. For example, our left foot can only fit in the left shoe and not in the right shoe. Achiral objects — objects that have...
Chiral objects exhibit a sense of handedness when they interact with another chiral object. For example, our left foot can only fit in the left shoe and not in the right shoe. Achiral objects — objects that have...
28.6K
Molecules with Multiple Chiral Centers
14.5K
Molecules that possess multiple chiral centers can afford a large number of stereoisomers. For instance, while some molecules like 2-butanol have one chiral center, defined as a tetrahedral carbon atom with four different substituents attached, several molecules like butane-2,3-diol have multiple chiral centers. A simple formula to predict the number of stereoisomers possible for a molecule with n chiral centers is 2n. However, there can be a lower number where some of the stereoisomers are...
14.5K
Potential Due to a Polarized Object
645
A neutral atom consists of a positively charged nucleus surrounded by a negatively charged electron cloud. When placed in an external electric field, the external electric force pulls the electrons and nucleus apart, opposite to the intrinsic attraction between the nucleus and the electrons. The opposing forces balance each other with a slight shift between the center of masses of the nucleus and the electron cloud, resulting in a polarized atom. On the other hand, a few molecules, like water,...
645
Prochirality
4.7K
The concept of prochirality leads to the nomenclature of the individual faces of a molecule and plays a crucial role in the enantioselective reaction. It is a concept where two or more achiral molecules react to produce chiral products. A typical process is the reaction of an achiral ketone to generate a chiral alcohol. Here, the achiral reactant reacts with an achiral reducing agent, sodium borohydride, to generate an equimolar mixture of the chiral enantiomers of the product. For example, an...
4.7K

