Electrically Programmable Terahertz Diatomic Metamolecules for Chiral Optical Control

• Main Authors: Longqing Cong, Prakash Pitchappa, Nan Wang, Ranjan Singh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science 2019-01-01
• Series: Research
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2019/7084251

Optical chirality is central to many industrial photonic technologies including enantiomer identification, ellipsometry-based tomography, and spin multiplexing in optical communications. However, a substantial chiral response requires a three-dimensional constituent, thereby making the morphology highly complex to realize structural reconfiguration. Moreover, an active reconfiguration demands intense dosage of external stimuli that pose a major limitation for on-chip integration. Here, we report a low bias, electrically programmable synthetic chiral paradigm with a remarkable reconfiguration among levorotatory, dextrorotatory, achiral, and racemic conformations. The switchable optical activity induced by the chiral conformations enables a transmission-type duplex spatial light modulator for terahertz single pixel imaging. The prototype delivers a new strategy towards reconfigurable stereoselective photonic applications and opens up avenues for on-chip programmable chiral devices with tremendous applications in biology, medicine, chemistry, and photonics.