Tailoring intrinsic chiroptical responses via twisted bilayer α-MoO3 separated by a VO2 film

Abstract

Flexible control of intrinsic chiroptical responses within compact nanostructures is crucial for flat optics, topological photonics, and chiroptics. However, previous approaches require complicated patterns with both in-plane and out-of-plane mirror symmetry breaking to achieve intrinsic chirality, and their chiroptical responses cannot be dynamically controlled as well. Herein, we demonstrated that near-perfect intrinsic circular dichroism (CD) can be achieved within a lithography-free structure consisting of the twisted bilayer α-MoO3 separated by a vanadium dioxide (VO2) film. By twisting the bilayer α-MoO3, dual-band intrinsic chiroptical responses can be realized due to the excitations of the hyperbolic phonon polaritons modes in the mid-infrared. It is the spin-selected average electric-field enhancement instead of the chiral absorption that is responsible for the intrinsic CD of the device. In addition, the chiroptical responses are insensitive to the variation of the thickness of the structure as well as the incident angle, and high contrast CD can be dynamically tuned by varying the volume fraction of VO2.