A planar chiral nanostructure with asymmetric transmission of linearly polarized wave and huge optical activity in near-infrared band

Just like an electronic diode that allows the electrical current to flow in one direction only, a kind of chiral metamaterial structure with a similar functionality for the electromagnetic wave is proposed. The designed nanostructure that consists of twisted metallic split-ring resonators on both sides of a dielectric substrate achieves asymmetric transmission for a forward and backward propagating linearly polarized wave by numerical simulation in near-infrared band. Difference in transmission efficiency of the optimized structure between the same polarized waves incident from opposite directions can reach a maximum at the communication wavelength (1.55 μm). Moreover, the simulation results of this structure also exhibit strong optical activity and circular dichroism.