MECHANICALLY FLEXIBLE SINGLE LAYER CHIRAL METASURFACE FOR POLARIZATION SELECTIVE PHOTONICS

Abstract

Chiral metasurfaces enable compact manipulation of circularly polarized light; however, most designs rely on rigid platforms that limit their adaptability. Here, a mechanically reconfigurable single layer dielectric chiral metasurface based on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), operating in the near infrared region is proposed. The unit cell, comprising two angularly oriented hollow rectangular cavities, introduces symmetry breaking that enables strong chiroptical response. Numerical simulations show dual band circular dichroism (CD), with peak values of ~0.89 at 911 nm and −0.8 at 952 nm under oblique incidence. The metasurface exhibits high quality resonances with Q factors of 1495 and 4678, which remain largely preserved under mechanical stretching. Electric field analysis reveals distinct chiral resonant modes with opposite handedness preference, while parametric studies confirm the robustness of the dual band response against geometric variations. Owing to the intrinsic flexibility of PDMS, uniaxial deformation enables controlled spectral tuning of the CD response while maintaining strong polarization selectivity. The proposed design provides a simple and effective platform for flexible and tunable chiral photonic devices.