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Inverse design of chiral structures for giant helical dichroism
Chia-Chun Pan1, Munseong Bae2, Hongtao Wang3
1Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Melbourne, VIC, Australia. sejeong.kim@unimelb.edu.au.
Nanoscale Horizons
|April 22, 2025
Summary
Researchers developed a chiral structure with a giant helical dichroism (HD) response using inverse design. This breakthrough enhances chiral light-matter interactions for sensitive chiral device applications.
Area of Science:
- Optics and Photonics
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Chiral light-matter interactions are crucial for sensing, imaging, and pharmaceuticals.
- Natural chiral responses and conventional methods using polarized light are often weak.
- Optical vortex beams offer a new avenue for studying chirality.
Purpose of the Study:
- To design a chiral structure with an enhanced helical dichroism (HD) response.
- To explore the use of inverse design for optimizing chiral structures.
- To demonstrate a novel approach for sensitive chiral detection.
Main Methods:
- Utilized inverse design and topology optimization to engineer a chiral structure.
- Investigated the interaction of the designed structure with optical vortex beams (OAM beams).
- Characterized the chiroptical response, specifically helical dichroism.
Main Results:
- Achieved a giant HD response of approximately 107% at 800 nm wavelength.
- Demonstrated the enhanced response with topological charges |±\ue146| = 3.
- Observed distinct helicity-dependent interactions between the chiral structure and OAM beams.
Conclusions:
- The designed chiral structure exhibits significantly enhanced HD.
- This work highlights the potential of OAM beams for sensitive chiral detection.
- The findings pave the way for advanced chiral sensing and imaging technologies.
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