Circular dichroism enhancement in plasmonic nanorod metamaterials

D. Vestler, I. Shishkin, E. A. Gurvitz, M. E. Nasir, A. Ben-Moshe, A. P. Slobozhanyuk, A. V. Krasavin, T. Levi-Belenkova, A. S. Shalin, P. Ginzburg, G. Markovich, A. V. Zayats

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

66 Scopus citations

Abstract

Optical activity is a fundamental phenomenon originating from the chiral nature of crystals and molecules. While intrinsic chiroptical responses of ordinary chiral materials to circularly polarized light are relatively weak, they can be enhanced by specially tailored nanostructures. Here, nanorod metamaterials, comprising a dense array of vertically aligned gold nanorods, is shown to provide a significant enhancement of the circular dichroism response of an embedded material. A nanorod composite, acting as an artificial uniaxial crystal, is filled with chiral mercury sulfide nanocrystals embedded in a transparent polymer. The metamaterial, being inherently achiral, enables optical activity enhancement or suppression. Unique properties of inherently achiral structures to tailor optical activities pave a way for flexible characterization of optical activity of molecules and nanocrystal-based compounds.

Original languageEnglish
JournalOptics Express
Volume26
Issue number14
DOIs
StatePublished - 9 Jul 2018
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Optical Society of America.

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