Surface-enhanced chiroptical spectroscopy with superchiral surface waves

Chirality. 2018 Jul;30(7):883-889. doi: 10.1002/chir.22971. Epub 2018 May 21.

Abstract

We study the chiroptical properties of one-dimensional photonic crystals supporting superchiral surface waves by introducing a simple formalism based on the Fresnel reflection matrix. We show that the proposed framework provides useful insights on the behavior of all the relevant chiroptical quantities, allowing for a deeper understanding of surface-enhanced chiral sensing platforms based on one-dimensional photonic crystals. Finally, we analyze and discuss the limitations of such platforms as the surface concentration of the target chiral analytes is gradually increased.

Keywords: optical chirality; photonic crystals; superchirality; surface-enhanced sensing.