Optical Chirality in Dispersive and Lossy Media

TL;DR

This paper extends the concept of optical chirality to include dissipative effects in dispersive media, providing a comprehensive conservation law applicable to various complex materials.

Contribution

It derives a general expression for optical chirality density in lossy and dispersive media, broadening the understanding of optical chirality in realistic materials.

Findings

Derived a conservation law for optical chirality in lossy media

Provided a general expression for optical chirality density

Confirmed consistency with free-space optical chirality

Abstract

Several dynamical properties such as energy, momentum, angular momentum, and optical helicity have been recently reexamined in dispersive and lossless media. Here, we address a parallel derivation for the optical chirality, extending it so as to include dissipative effects as well. To this end, we first elaborate on the most complete form of the conservation law for the optical chirality, without any restrictions on the nature of the medium. As a result we find a general expression for the optical chirality density both in lossless and lossy dispersive media. Our definition is perfectly consistent with that originally introduced for electromagnetic fields in free space, and is applicable to any material system, including dielectrics, plasmonic nanostructures, and left-handed metamaterials.