High-Efficiency Asymmetric Transmission of Red-Near-Infrared Light Based on Chiral Metamaterial

Designing and fabricating high-performance polarization converters that exhibit asymmetric transmission (AT), for light with different circularly/linearly polarized states with opposite propagating directions, are in high demand. The AT phenomenon leads to potential applications as isolators and circulators in information and communication systems. We propose a chiral metamaterial structure with high AT efficiency for two types of linearly orthogonal polarized red-near-IR light in two opposite incident directions. Theoretical results showed that the proposed chiral metamaterial structure achieves cross-polarization conversion where the polarization conversion ratio (PCR) is over 90%, in a broadband wavelength range from 715 to 810 nm, for both forward-propagating linearly polarized light and backward-propagating orthogonal linearly polarized light. The physical mechanisms of the polarization converter with the AT have been investigated. It was confirmed that the Fabry-Perot-like resonance and coupling between electric and magnetic dipoles lead to highly efficient asymmetric polarization conversion for two orthogonal linearly polarized light. Additionally, the conversion efficiency and bandwidth of the polarization converter are successfully optimized by adjusting the related structure parameters.

Automated summary

The proposed chiral metamaterial structure achieves high asymmetric polarization conversion efficiency for two orthogonal linearly polarized light in a broadband wavelength range. By adjusting the related structure parameters, the conversion efficiency and bandwidth of the polarization converter can be successfully optimized.