Chirality encoding in resonant metasurfaces governed by lattice symmetries

TL;DR

This paper presents a universal method for controlling the chiral response of resonant metasurfaces through lattice symmetry and geometry, enabling tunable optical properties for advanced photonic applications.

Contribution

It introduces a symmetry-based strategy for designing chiral metasurfaces with predictable and tunable responses, expanding the control over structured light.

Findings

Achieved tunable chiral response via lattice symmetry manipulation

Demonstrated mid-IR image encoding using transmission and circular dichroism

Provided a universal design toolkit for chiral metastructures

Abstract

Chiral metasurfaces provide invaluable tools capable of controlling structured light required for biosensing, photochemistry, holography, and quantum photonics. Here we suggest and realize a universal strategy for controlling the chiral response of resonant metasurfaces via the interplay of meta-atom geometry and lattice arrangements within all five possible planar Bravais symmetries. By introducing chiral gradient metasurfaces, we illustrate how our approach allows producing a predictable chiral response tunable by simple parameter variations. We highlight that symmetry-controlled chiral response provides an additional degree of freedom in optical signal processing, and showcase this with simultaneous mid-IR image encoding in two fundamental quantities, transmission and circular dichroism. Our proposed concept represents a universal toolkit for on-demand design and control of chiral metastructures that has potential for numerous applications in life sciences, quantum optics and more.