Switching the Optical Chirality in Magnetoplasmonic Metasurfaces Using Applied Magnetic Fields

Chiral nanophotonic devices are promising candidates for chiral molecule sensing, polarization of diverse nanophotonics, and display technologies. Active chiral nanophotonic devices, where the optical chirality can be controlled by an external stimulus has triggered great research interest. However, efficient modulation of the optical chirality has been challenging. Here, we demonstrate switching of the extrinsic chirality by applied magnetic fields in a magnetoplasmonic metasurface device based on a magneto-optical oxide material, Ce₁Y₂Fe₅O₁₂ (Ce:YIG). Due to the low optical loss and strong magneto-optical effect of Ce:YIG, we experimentally demonstrated giant and continuous far-field circular dichroism (CD) modulation by applied magnetic fields from -0.6 ± 0.2° to +1.9 ± 0.1° at 950 nm wavelength under glancing incident conditions. The far-field CD modulation is due to both magneto-optical circular dichroism and near-field modulation of the superchiral fields by applied magnetic fields. Finally, we demonstrate magnetic-field-tunable chiral imaging in millimeter-scale magnetoplasmonic metasurfaces fabricated using self-assembly.