Chirality is a geometric property possessed by almost all biomolecules and describes the lack of mirror symmetry in a structure. Traditionally, chirality is characterized through far-field spectroscopies, but recently, chiral plasmonic substrates have gained interest for enhanced chirality sensing. The use of chiral plasmonics has also emerged as a tool for achieving superior optical activity, negative refraction, and is expected to lead to on-chip nanoantennas for telecommunications applications.
Recent research at Rice University by Lauren McCarthy, Ojasvi Verma, Gopal Narmada Naidu, Luca Bursi, Alessandro Alabastri, Peter Norlandar, and Stephan Link reports on the observation of an extrinsic chirality analogue, in which the experimental geometry confers linear polarization sensitivity to chiral, rotationally symmetric pinwheels. This work was performed in part at the Rice University Shared Equipment Authority (SEA) using an Elionix 100kV electron beam lithography system.
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Image: Left handed chiral plasmonic pinwheel designed with a 100nm inner radius of curvature, a 40nm arm width, and a 150° span angle. (Courtesy Ojasvi Verma)
For more information see: https://doi.org/10.1021/cbmi.2c00005