Review of optically active and nonlinear chiral metamaterials

Advanced photonic nanostructures have enabled the maximization of synthetic chiroptic activities. The unique structuring of these building blocks has empowered chiral selective interactions with electromagnetic waves in plasmonic structures and dielectric media. Given the repertoire of optimized chiral surfaces in the literature and the ubiquity of chirality in the organic realm, the natural direction to consider is the operation of these devices in larger optical systems much like their chiral organic counterparts. Here, we recapitulate advances in active and nonlinear chiral metamaterials. Many of the results, such as the magneto-chiral anisotropy and third-harmonic Rayleigh scattering optical activity, are relatively unknown members of the more conventional family of tuning methodology and nonlinear processes. We believe that they are poised to play an instrumental role in designing advanced chiroptic systems for applications in biochemistry, valleytronics, spintronics, and chiral quantum optics. (C) 2022 Society of PhotoOptical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)