Chiral nonlinear polaritonics with van der Waals metasurfaces

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Authors: Connor Heimig, A. A. Antonov, Dmytro Gryb, Thomas Possmayer, Thomas Weber, Michael Hirler, Jonas Biechteler, Luca Sortino, Leonardo de S. Menezes, Stefan A. Maier, M. V. Gorkunov, Yuri S. Kivshar
+1 more Andreas Tittl
Cited by: 6
References: 63

Abstract

Chiral optical cavities are crucial for the development of nonequilibrium quantum materials by discriminating and selectively coupling to light of a specific circular polarization, but fundamentally cannot be realized with conventional mirror cavities. Here, we demonstrate this unique functionality by developing a monolithic transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) metasurface with broken out-of-plane symmetry, allowing for the selective formation of self-hybridized chiral exciton-polaritons. Our metasurface maintains maximal chirality for oblique incidence up to 20°, thereby outperforming all previously known designs. Moreover, we study the chiral strong-coupling regime in nonlinear experiments and reveal polaritonic signatures in chiral third-harmonic generation. Our results position maximally chiral van der Waals (vdW) metasurfaces as a versatile platform for tunable chiral polaritonics with applications in nonreciprocal photonic devices and valleytronics.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Strong Light-Matter Interactions Mechanical and Optical Resonators Plasmonic and Surface Plasmon Research

Publication details

Journal / source
Science Advances
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Volume
12
Issue
13
Pages
eaeb5631–eaeb5631
Publication date
27 March 2026
Language
EN