Simultaneous broadband and high circular dichroism with two-dimensional all-dielectric chiral metasurface

Chiral metasurfaces have great potential in various applications such as polarimetric imaging and biomedical recognition. However, simultaneous broadband and high circular dichroism (CD) with high polarization extinction ratio (PER) remains a challenge. Here, we present a novel approach to realize simultaneous broadband and high CD with high PER in the optical communication band using a two-dimensional all-dielectric chiral metasurface. The structure is formed by a two-level chiral structure of split cross (first-order) and trapezoid-shaped (second-order) of Si nano ribs, respectively, in which constructively coupled first- and second-order of chirality occurs, resulting in the broad chiral response in the far field of multipoles excited by incident light of different chiralities. Theoretical results show that a CD in transmission reaching 0.9 (up to 0.993) and a PER exceeding 20 dB (up to 35 dB) over the entire wavelength range from 1.39 to 1.61 mu m can be achieved simultaneously, consistent with the experimental results of CD similar to 0.9 and PER of 10 dB (up to 19.7 dB). Our design paves the way for chiral metasurfaces toward practical applications in terms of working bandwidth, high CD and PER as well as integrality of the devices in many fields.

Automated summary

In this study, a novel approach using a two-dimensional all-dielectric chiral metasurface is proposed to achieve simultaneous broadband and high circular dichroism (CD) with high polarization extinction ratio (PER) in the optical communication band. Theoretical and experimental results show that a CD of 0.9 and a PER exceeding 20 dB can be achieved in the wavelength range of 1.39 to 1.61 μm. This research paves the way for practical applications of chiral metasurfaces in various fields.