Engineering the chiroptical response of nano-helical metamaterials by careful selection of constituent material underpinnings

In this talk, I will briefly describe our lab's efforts to engineer the chiroptical response of nano-helix-based metamaterials to target specific frequency ranges. The fabrication method employed allows for a high level of versatility with respect to materials that can be chosen, e.g. metals, semiconductors, insulators, etc. As an example, we have achieved tuning the chiroptical response—using a seminconductor—within the near ultraviolet portion of the spectrum, which cannot easily be achieved with plasmonics-based chiral metamaterials. I will also discuss an unexpected result that we observe when combining different types of materials into the individual nanostructures.