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Terahertz circular dichroism spectroscopy of biomaterials enabled by kirigami polarization modulators

Nature Materials volume 18, pages 820–826 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

Terahertz circular dichroism (TCD) offers multifaceted spectroscopic capabilities for understanding the mesoscale chiral architecture and low-energy vibrations of macromolecules in (bio)materials1,2,3,4,5. However, the lack of dynamic polarization modulators comparable to polarization optics for other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum is impeding the proliferation of TCD spectroscopy6,7,8,9,10,11. Here we show that tunable optical elements fabricated from patterned plasmonic sheets with periodic kirigami cuts make possible the polarization modulation of terahertz radiation under application of mechanical strain. A herringbone pattern of microscale metal stripes enables a dynamic range of polarization rotation modulation exceeding 80° over thousands of cycles. Following out-of-plane buckling, the plasmonic stripes function as reconfigurable semi-helices of variable pitch aligned along the terahertz propagation direction. Several biomaterials, exemplified by an elytron of the Chrysina gloriosa, revealed distinct TCD fingerprints associated with the helical substructure in the biocomposite. Analogous kirigami modulators will also enable other applications in terahertz optics, such as polarization-based terahertz imaging, line-of-sight telecommunication, information encryption and space exploration.

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Fig. 1: Schematic of chiral kirigami topology.
Fig. 2: THz TDS measurement of a chiral kirigami modulator.
Fig. 3: Understanding the physical meaning of resonance frequency.
Fig. 4: Computed THz circular dichroism and time-averaged current norm distributions on the kirigami modulator with φ = 45°.
Fig. 5: Measurements of TCD using a kirigami chiroptical modulator.

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All relevant data that support our experimental findings are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

All the authors acknowledge support from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) project HR00111720067 ‘Electromagnetic Processes and Normal Modes in Bacterial Biofilms’. Parts of the work were also supported by the NSF projects ‘Energy- and Cost-Efficient Manufacturing Employing Nanoparticles’ (NSF 1463474) and ‘Multi-Scale Origami For Novel Photonics’ (NSF 071702). The authors also acknowledge financial and programmatic support from the University of Michigan College of Engineering’s Blue Sky Initiative, the UM Electron Microscopy Facility (MC)2 for its assistance with electron microscopy and NSF grant no. DMR-9871177 for funding of the JEOL 2010F analytical electron microscope used in this work. We acknowledge the Lurie Nanofabrication Facility for facilitating the fabrication of kirigami modulators.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Won Jin Choi, Gong Cheng.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Won Jin Choi & Nicholas A. Kotov

  2. Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Gong Cheng

  3. Center for Ultrafast Optical Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Gong Cheng & Theodore B. Norris

  4. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Zhengyu Huang & Theodore B. Norris

  5. Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Shuai Zhang

  6. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Nicholas A. Kotov

  7. Program in Macromolecular Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Nicholas A. Kotov

  8. Biointerfaces Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Nicholas A. Kotov

  9. Michigan Institute for Translational Nanotechnology, Ypsilanti, MI, USA

    Nicholas A. Kotov

Authors
  1. Won Jin Choi
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Contributions

W.J.C., G.C., T.B.N. and N.A.K. contributed to the design, data analysis and preparation of the manuscript. N.A.K. originated the concept. W.J.C. designed and fabricated the kirigami modulators and measured the mechanical responses. W.J.C. and G.C. performed the optical experiments and W.J.C., G.C. and Z.H. performed the simulations. S.Z. provided technical support for reconstruction of the 3D kirigami model. W.J.C., G.C., T.B.N. and N.A.K. planned and supervised the project.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Theodore B. Norris or Nicholas A. Kotov.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary methods, Supplementary Figs. 1–28, Supplementary video captions 1–2, Supplementary references 1–40

Supplementary Video 1

Video of stretching and release of kirigami chiroptical modulator (ε from 0 to 22.5%)

Supplementary Video 2

Video of the 3D topology of a reconstructed kirigami structure with 45° wire slant angle stretched by 13.5% strain

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Choi, W.J., Cheng, G., Huang, Z. et al. Terahertz circular dichroism spectroscopy of biomaterials enabled by kirigami polarization modulators. Nat. Mater. 18, 820–826 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-019-0404-6

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