Enhanced vibrational optical activity by near-zero index chiral effective media

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that embedding metal nanoparticles in an optically active medium can significantly enhance vibrational optical activity using near-zero index conditions, enabling improved chiroptical detection.

Contribution

It introduces a novel effective medium approach that boosts vibrational optical activity by 100 to 1000 times through superchirality in near-zero index regimes.

Findings

Enhancement of vibrational optical rotation and circular dichroism by factors of 100-1000.

Effective medium theory shows tunable enhancement via nanoparticle filling fraction.

Potential applications in quantum chemistry and nanomedicine for detecting molecular chirality.

Abstract

The enhancement of the inherently weak optical activity of solvated molecules by superchiral fields, crucial for detecting their chirality, is a research frontier of photonics and the basis of novel chiroptical detection schemes. Here, we show that an effective medium consisting of randomly dispersed metal-based nanoparticles embedded within an optically active solvated drug (aqueous reparixin) can enhance vibrational optical rotation and circular dichroism thanks to superchirality produced by slow light in near-zero index conditions. We evaluate from first principles the effective bianisotropic response of the bulk chiral effective medium, showing that, by adjusting the nanoparticles filling fraction, vibrational optical activity is greatly enhanced by a factor $\simeq 10^2-10^3$ at the near-zero index resonance. Our results are relevant for the development of innovative devices capable of detecting the chirality of low-volume samples, with applications in quantum chemistry and nanomedicine.