Asymmetric transmission of linearly polarized waves in terahertz chiral metamaterials

We experimentally demonstrate the asymmetric transmission of linearly polarized waves in a multilayer chiral metamaterial in the terahertz (THz) regime. The chiral metamaterial is constructed by two stacked orthogonal metallic layers embedded in polyimide dielectric layers. Simulated and measured results show that the proposed multilayer chiral metamaterial can achieve dual-band direction-dependent cross-polarization conversions for both x- and y-polarized THz waves. The polarized wave passing through the metamaterial will be converted into its orthogonal polarization state, while the same polarized wave is blocked along the reversed propagation direction. In addition, the asymmetric transmission band may be effectively engineered to other frequencies by slightly adjusting the gap width. We believe that our findings are beneficial in manipulating the polarization state of THz waves and exploring polarization-sensitive THz devices. Published by AIP Publishing.