Large‐Area 3D‐Printed Chiral Metasurface Composed of Metal Helices

• Published in: Advanced optical materials Vol. 6; no. 19
• Main Authors: Golod, Sergey V., Seyfi, Valentin A., Buldygin, Anatoly F., Gayduk, Alexey E., Prinz, Victor Ya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 04-10-2018
• Subjects: 3D printing; chirality; Computer simulation; Ellipticity; Frequency ranges; Helices; hybrid metasurfaces; Hybrid structures; Materials science; Metasurfaces; Microwaves; molding; Optics; Polarization; Polymers; Substrates; Three dimensional printing
• ISSN: 2195-1071; 2195-1071
• DOI: 10.1002/adom.201800424

An original design for chiral metasurfaces formation is proposed. The hybrid fabrication approach is based on the 3D printing of polymer substrates with a shape‐generating “helical” relief, molding, and subsequent shadow metal deposition. The formed double‐layer grating of multiturn metal helices rotates the polarization plane of sub‐terahertz and microwave radiation through an angle in excess of 40°. Both experimentally and in numerical simulations, it is demonstrated that re‐reflection phenomena occur in the “metal helix–polymer substrate” hybrid structure. Those phenomena permit control of polarization‐plane rotation, ellipticity, and asymmetric transmission. Multiplication of printed structures with 3D helices achieved by using the molding technique enables the formation of large‐area chiral metasurfaces. The advantages of the proposed metasurface include easy fabrication of the system, the possibility of its scalability to other frequency ranges, and the possibility of using systems based on such metasurfaces in highly efficient polarization transformers.
Combining the 3D printing technology, molding, and deposition of metal films, an original design of hybrid chiral metasurfaces is introduced. The formed structures rotate the polarization plane of sub‐terahertz and microwave radiation in excess of 40°. The advantages of the metasurfaces include easy fabrication, scalability to other frequency ranges, and the possibility of using as highly efficient polarization transformers.