Enhanced enantiomer discrimination with chiral surface plasmons

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Park, Sang Hyun, Avouris, Phaedon, Dionne, Jennifer A., Caldwell, Joshua D., Low, Tony
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author Park, Sang Hyun
Avouris, Phaedon
Dionne, Jennifer A.
Caldwell, Joshua D.
Low, Tony
author_facet Park, Sang Hyun
Avouris, Phaedon
Dionne, Jennifer A.
Caldwell, Joshua D.
Low, Tony
contents Strong light-matter coupling in chiral cavities has been proposed as an effective way to selectively interact with an enantiomer that shares the same handedness as the cavity's chiral mode. We show that surface plasmons supported by a two-dimensional interface with both electric and chiral conductivities discriminate enantiomers more efficiently than chiral optical cavities. A quantum-electrodynamic treatment is developed to incorporate the molecule's electric and magnetic dipole moments. We show that the discrimination factor for a chiral plasmon can exceed that of the best chiral-mirror cavity by almost an order of magnitude due to stronger field confinement. In addition, surface plasmons couple to a dipole's projection onto an entire plane, whereas cavity (or free-space) modes couple only to a single polarization axis. This geometric difference produces a $\sqrt{2}$ orientation-averaged boost in chiral discrimination for chiral surface platforms. A handedness-preserving reflector further amplifies the enhancement, opening a practical route towards chiral sensing using twisted-layer platforms.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_05207
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Enhanced enantiomer discrimination with chiral surface plasmons
Park, Sang Hyun
Avouris, Phaedon
Dionne, Jennifer A.
Caldwell, Joshua D.
Low, Tony
Optics
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Strong light-matter coupling in chiral cavities has been proposed as an effective way to selectively interact with an enantiomer that shares the same handedness as the cavity's chiral mode. We show that surface plasmons supported by a two-dimensional interface with both electric and chiral conductivities discriminate enantiomers more efficiently than chiral optical cavities. A quantum-electrodynamic treatment is developed to incorporate the molecule's electric and magnetic dipole moments. We show that the discrimination factor for a chiral plasmon can exceed that of the best chiral-mirror cavity by almost an order of magnitude due to stronger field confinement. In addition, surface plasmons couple to a dipole's projection onto an entire plane, whereas cavity (or free-space) modes couple only to a single polarization axis. This geometric difference produces a $\sqrt{2}$ orientation-averaged boost in chiral discrimination for chiral surface platforms. A handedness-preserving reflector further amplifies the enhancement, opening a practical route towards chiral sensing using twisted-layer platforms.
title Enhanced enantiomer discrimination with chiral surface plasmons
topic Optics
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05207