Photonically active bowtie nanoassemblies with chirality continuum

Chirality is a geometrical property described by continuous mathematical functions(1-5). However, in chemical disciplines, chirality is often treated as a binary left or right characteristic of molecules rather than a continuity of chiral shapes. Although they are theoretically possible, a family of stable chemical structures with similar shapes and progressively tuneable chirality is yet unknown. Here we show that nanostructured microparticles with an anisotropic bowtie shape display chirality continuum and can be made with widely tuneable twist angle, pitch, width, thickness and length. The self-limited assembly of the bowties enables high synthetic reproducibility, size monodispersity and computational predictability of their geometries for different assembly conditions(6). The bowtie nanoassemblies show several strong circular dichroism peaks originating from absorptive and scattering phenomena. Unlike classical chiral molecules, these particles show a continuum of chirality measures(2) that correlate exponentially with the spectral positions of the circular dichroism peaks. Bowtie particles with variable polarization rotation were used to print photonically active metasurfaces with spectrally tuneable positive or negative polarization signatures for light detection and ranging (LIDAR) devices.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates nanostructured microparticles with continuously tunable chirality, which have a chiral shape similar to traditional handiness and can be controlled by adjusting different parameters. Unlike classical chiral molecules, these particles show a continuum of chirality measures and can be used to produce tunable frequency photonic active metasurfaces.