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Updated: Jun 28, 2025

A Micropatterning Assay for Measuring Cell Chirality
Published on: March 11, 2022
A 2D chiral microcavity based on apparent circular dichroism
Tzu-Ling Chen1,2, Andrew Salij3, Katherine A Parrish1
1Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1101 University Ave, Madison, WI, 53706, USA.
Abstract:
Engineering asymmetric transmission between left-handed and right-handed circularly polarized light in planar Fabry-Pérot (FP) microcavities would enable a variety of chiral light-matter phenomena, with applications in spintronics, polaritonics, and chiral lasing. Such symmetry breaking, however, generally requires Faraday rotators or nanofabricated polarization-preserving mirrors. We present a simple solution requiring no nanofabrication to induce asymmetric transmission in FP microcavities, preserving low mode volumes by embedding organic thin films exhibiting apparent circular dichroism (ACD); an optical phenomenon based on 2D chirality. Importantly, ACD interactions are opposite for counter-propagating light. Consequently, we demonstrated asymmetric transmission of cavity modes over an order of magnitude larger than that of the isolated thin film. Through circular dichroism spectroscopy, Mueller matrix ellipsometry, and simulation using theoretical scattering matrix methods, we characterize the spatial, spectral, and angular chiroptical responses of this 2D chiral microcavity.
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