Chiral TeraHertz Surface Plasmonics

Abstract

Chiral engineering of TeraHertz (THz) light fields and the use of the handedness of light in THz light–matter interactions promise many novel opportunities for the advanced sensing and control of matter in this frequency range. Unlike previously explored methods, this is achieved here by leveraging the chiral properties of highly confined THz surface plasmon modes. More specifically, we design ultrasmall surface plasmonic-based THz cavities and THz metasurfaces that display significant and adjustable chiral behavior under modest magnetic fields (B ≤ 500 mT). For such a prototypical example of a non-hermitian and dispersive photonic system, we demonstrate the capacity to magnetic field-tune both the poles and zeros of cavity resonances, the two fundamental parameters governing their resonance properties. Alongside the observed handedness-dependent cavity frequencies, this highlights the remarkable ability to engineer chiral and tunable radiative couplings for THz resonators and metasurfaces. The extensive tunability offered by the surface plasmonic approach paves the way for the development of agile and multifunctional THz metasurfaces as well as the realization of ultrastrong chiral light–matter interactions at low energy in matter with potential far-reaching applications for the design of material properties.