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We experimentally and theoretically investigate Fano-like resonance in a large-area Au/SiO2/Au nano-patches meta-structure, which originates from the coupling between Fabry–Perot resonance and magnetic dipole resonance modes. A highly sensitive refractive index sensor based on the lineshape analysis is obtained. The extracted wavelength shift with the amount of substance of Hg2+ changing from 10–3 pmol to 1 nmol has a linear dependence, and the sensitivity can reach to ultra-low limit of detection (LOD) as 10–3 pmol. This study may provide an approach for the development and modification in sensing.

This study proposes a bi-layer windmill-shaped metamaterial that consists of resonators, with similar shapes, on both sides of a dielectric substrate. In this study, the second layer is rotated clockwise around the substrate normal at 90° and thereafter flipped in the first layer. Due to the introduction of a windmill-like shape, the resonant structures result in new resonant modes and thus can achieve multi-band high-efficiency cross-polarization conversions and asymmetric transmissions (ATs) for a linearly polarized incident plane wave with a maximum asymmetric parameter of 0.72. Depending on the geometric parameters of our windmill-shaped structures, the AT effect scan be flexibly modulated in a broad multi-band from 160 THz to 400 THz, which has not been reported in previous studies. These outstanding AT effects provide potential applications in optical diodes, polarization control switches, and other nano-devices.

The interference between toroidal and electric dipoles in the optical regime is investigated in a metallic composite metastructure composed of a 12-fold double-bar and an upright rod. It shows that toroidal and electric dipoles can be simultaneously excited, exhibiting a plasmon analog of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) and suppressing the far-field radiation. By shifting the upright rod transversally, another transparency window emerges due to the asymmetry of the geometry, resulting in dual-band EIT-like behavior. The result not only contributes to the understanding of optical toroidal dipoles, but also creates the possibility of designing optical devices based on the dual-band EIT-like effect.

The obvious circular dichroism (CD) and optical activity can be obtained based on the chiral metamaterial due to the plasmon-enhanced effect, which is very attractive for future compact devices with enhanced capabilities of light manipulation. In this paper, we propose a dual-chiral metamaterial composed of bilayer asymmetric split ring resonators (ASRR) that are in mirror-symmetry shape. It is demonstrated that the CD can get enhancement in the terahertz regime. Moreover, the CD can be further improved by modulating the asymmetry of ASRR. The enhanced CD effect in the terahertz regime has great potential applications in sensing, biomedical imaging, and molecular recognition.

We demonstrate the optical activity for linear polarization by twisting cascading multilayer nanobars, for which the x- (y-)polarized light is significantly transformed to a y- (x-)polarized one with enhanced transmittance in a unidirectional manner, and the bandwidth can be broadened by increasing the cascading number of layers. The polarization conversion rate reaches nearly 100% with a maximum cross-polarization transmission coefficient larger than 0.95. This phenomenon is attributed to the chiral structural arrangement and anisotropic resonance of nanobars, which consequently leads to different cross-polarization conversions between forward and backward incident lights, and thus the unidirectional transmission with an extinction ratio up to 103. These characteristics show application potential in optical nano-devices.

We demonstrate numerically and experimentally an efficient broadband asymmetric transmission (AT) by bilayer cross-shaped metamaterials for linearly polarized plane waves, attributed to a huge conversion capability between the cross polarizations. Physically, the phenomenon of AT results from the symmetry-broken geometry in this metamaterial. Due to the interaction of long and short-arm resonances of the twisted crosses, the AT bandwidth can be up to of the central wavelength, corresponding to a maximum cross-polarization conversion rate of . In particular, the broad bandwidth can be manipulated by the short-arm length, which produces an opportunity in designing a polarization-based spectral filter or other microwave devices.