Circular dichroism metamirrors with near-perfect extinction

The efficient analysis and engineering of the polarization state is imperative in diverse disciplines, including physics, materials science, biology and quantum optics. For instance, scientists apply circularly polarized light to manipulate the spin state of electron for quantum information processing. Chrysina gloriosa (jeweled beetles) under left-handed circularly polarized light illumination appear more brilliant than those under right-handed circularly polarized light illumination, and circular dichroism spectroscopy is of critical importance to identify the structure of chiral molecules. Metallic mirrors are basic elements and widely used in optical setup to control the path of light. However, the state of circular polarization is reversed, or even degrades to elliptical polarization when it is reflected off a surface. Therefore, the original handedness of the optical signals is lost after multiple reflections in a complex optical system. Here, we propose and demonstrate a new concept of circular dichroism metamirrors, which enables selective, near-perfect reflection of designated circularly polarized light without reversing its handedness, yet complete absorption of the other polarization state. Such a metamirror can be considered as the optical analogy of Chrysina gloriosa in nature, while exhibits nearly maximal efficiency. A general method to design the circular dichroism metasmirror is presented under the framework of Jones calculus. It is analytically shown that the building block of such a metamirror needs to simultaneously break the n-fold rotational (n > 2) symmetry and mirror symmetry. By combining two layers of anisotropic metamaterial structures, we design a circular dichroism metamirror in the mid-infrared region, which shows perfect reflectance (94.7%) for left-handed circularly polarized light without reversing its handedness, while almost completely absorbs (99.3%) right-handed circularly polarized light. These findings offer new methodology to implement novel photonic devices for a variety of applications, including polarimetric imaging, molecular spectroscopy and quantum information processing.