Study of the Optical Anisotropy of the Planar Chiral Metamaterial

Both the unicell (also called meta-atom) of the planar chiral metamaterial and molecule of the natural optically active material have mirror-symmetric structure. Previous research works on planar chiral metamaterial indicate that it can change the azimuth angle and ellipticity angle of the incident light. The polarization conversion of the planar chiral metamaterial has been deduced that is resulted from the circular anisotropy, including circular birefringence and circular diachroism. Where the change of the azimuth angle is resulted from the circular birefringence (optical activity), and the change of the ellipticity angle is resulted from the circular diachroism. However, circular anisotropy may not be the only contribution to change the azimuth angle and ellipticity angle of the incident light. Linear anisotropy, including linear birefringence and linear diachroism also can induce the polarization effect as mentioned above. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify that the polarization conversion mechanism of planar chiral metamaterial is completely dominant by circular anisotropy or not. This research project propose an equivalent model for the planar chiral metamaterial, an optical system composes of a linear anisotropic polarization element and a circular anisotropic polarization element. In order to verify the theoretical validity, this research project will measure the Mueller matrix of the planar chiral metamaterial and will characterize the linear anisotropy, circular anisotropy and depolarization of the planar chiral metamaterial by using polar decomposition in order to verify the theoretical validity of the assumption of the equivalent model.

Project ID:PB10507-2956
External Project ID:MOST105-2221-E182-041