Observation of asymmetric electromagnetic field profiles in chiral metamaterials

We experimentally observe asymmetric electromagnetic field profiles along two-dimensional chiral metamaterials. The asymmetric field profiles depending on the chirality and the operation frequency have been reproduced well by the numerical simulation. Around a chiral meta-atom, distribution of a Poynting vector is found to be shifted asymmetrically. These results are explained in terms of an analogy with the side-jump mechanism in the electronic anomalous Hall systems

Microwave analog of Stern-Gerlach effects using nonuniform chiral metamaterials

This study observes microwave beam splitting dependent on circular polarizations through nonuniform chiral metamaterials. Nonuniform chiral metamaterials with a gradation in refractive index are constructed using chiral meta-atoms that exhibit optical activities at microwave frequencies. Microwave scattering far-field patterns by the nonuniform chiral metamaterials demonstrate a deflection of microwaves, which transmit in a direction perpendicular to the refractive index gradient. Furthermore, circularly polarized microwaves with opposite “spins of light” go their separate ways in the nonuniform chiral metamaterials. This phenomenon is an optical analog of the Stern-Gerlach effects for electrons