Lithography-Free Fabrication of Terahertz Chiral Metamaterials and Their Chirality Enhancement for Enantiomer Sensing

Chiral metamaterials comprise a promising platform for advanced optoelectronic and biomedical applications. However, conventional fabrication via lithography is limited by its complexity and high cost. Herein, the lithography-free fabrication of terahertz chiral metamaterials and their enhancement for sensing the chirality of biocrystal enantiomers is presented. Chiral Au microstrip patterns (CHAMs) in a saw-tooth shape are fabricated by combining two-step buckling processes and glancing-angle deposition. Non-superimposable geometric chirality is achieved by controlling the tilt angle between the asymmetric and biaxial strain axes and the selective area deposition of the Au layers by using the shadow effect. The manufactured chiral metamaterials show mirror-shaped terahertz circular dichroism (TCD) signals in the range of 0.2-2.5 THz. Coupling of the induced electric and magnetic dipoles to the chiral-shaped Au surfaces results in effective optical chirality enhancement. Finite-difference time-domain computational simulations reveal the homogeneous distribution of optical chirality with an absolute maximum of 2.24 in the near field. Summing the TCD signals for enantiomeric cystine biocrystals onto the chiral metamaterials shows an approximate to 7-fold amplification in magnitude. This enhancement can be attributed to the synergistic effects of superchiral field enhancement and the electromagnetic resonance between the CHAMs and biocrystals.

Automated summary

The lithography-free fabrication of terahertz chiral metamaterials is achieved by combining two-step buckling processes and glancing-angle deposition. The manufactured chiral metamaterials exhibit mirror-shaped terahertz circular dichroism (TCD) signals in the range of 0.2-2.5 THz. The enhancement of sensing the chirality of biocrystal enantiomers is attributed to the synergistic effects of superchiral field enhancement and the electromagnetic resonance between the CHAMs and biocrystals.