Reverse circular Bragg phenomenon

Abstract

The problem of axial propagation of circularly polarized light in a circularly birefringent structurally chiral medium is exactly solved via full electromagnetic analysis. Underlying symmetries of the system's characteristic matrix reveal interesting insights, which are confirmed by coupled wave theory. For extreme values of chirality, a reverse circular Bragg resonance arises in the negative refraction regime where handedness reversal of counterpart modes occurs. A condition is identified under which circular birefringence precisely offsets structural chirality, rendering the medium simply linearly birefringent. Manufacturing such a medium is feasible via current metamedia and inorganic materials technology and has applications in optics, optoelectronics, and sensing.