Substrate-Induced Chirality in an Individual Nanostructure

We experimentally investigate the chiral optical response of an individual nanostructure consisting of three equally sized spherical nanoparticles made of different materials and arranged in 90 degrees bent geometry. Placing the nanostructure on a substrate converts its morphology from achiral to chiral. Chirality leads to pronounced differential extinction (circular dichroism) and optical rotation (circular birefringence), which would be strictly forbidden in the absence of a substrate or heterogeneity. This first experimental observation of the substrate-induced break of symmetry in an individual heterogeneous nanostructure sheds new light on chiral light-matter interactions at substrate-nanostructure interfaces.