Collective lattice and plasmonic resonances in the enhancement of circular dichroism in disk–rod metasurface

Compact planar photonic elements serving for efficient control over the polarization of light are of paramount importance in photonics. Here, we propose a design of a chiral periodic metasurface based on plasmonic nanodisks and nanorods arranged asymmetrically in a unit cell. Using the finite-difference time-domain analysis, we show that the collective lattice resonance harnessed by the diffraction coupling of the plasmonic unit cells is the heart of the revealed resonant 38% circular dichroism effect. The circular dichroism enhancement of the considered structure is improved using the deep-learning-assisted optimization of the metasurface design.