Nano-Imaging of Chiro-Optical Force

TL;DR

This study demonstrates nanoscale observation of chiro-optical forces induced by circularly polarized light, revealing their dependence on light handedness and correlating with electromagnetic simulations, advancing understanding of chiro-optical phenomena.

Contribution

It introduces a nano-imaging method to observe chiro-optical forces directly at the nanoscale, providing new insights into their physics and potential nanotechnological applications.

Findings

Chiro-optical forces depend on light handedness.

The forces correlate with simulated electric field intensity.

The method enables in situ nanoscale observation of chiro-optical effects.

Abstract

Nanoscopic observation of chiro-optical phenomena is essential in wide scientific areas but has measurement difficulties; hence, its physics are still unknown. Currently, in most cases, chiro-optical phenomena have been investigated by polarized light handling far-field measurements or via predictions by theoretical simulations. To obtain a full understanding of the physics of chiro-optical systems and derive the full potentials, it is essential to perform in situ observation of the chiro-optical effect from the individual parts because the macroscopic chiro-optical effect cannot be translated directly into microscopic effects. In the present study, we observed the chiro-optical responses at the nanoscale level by detecting the chiro-optical forces, which were generated by illumination of the material/probe system with circularly polarized light. The induced optical force was dependent on the handedness of the incident circularly polarized light and well correlated to the electromagnetically simulated differential intensity of the longitudinal electric field. Our results facilitate the clarification of chiro-optical phenomena at the nanoscale level and could innovate chiro-optical nanotechnologies.