Chiral photonics: Status and perspectives

We review the emerging field of chiral photonics, its applications and corresponding materials. Chiral photonics is a new direction for photonics that encompasses enantio-selective polarization control of linear and nonlinear optical functions. New materials are required to realize the full potential of this field. Specifically, chiral polymers or polymer nanocomposites exhibiting very large optical rotation and third-order optical nonlinearity are needed to make applications of chiral photonics a reality. Multiscale modeling, guiding the synthesis of materials and nanocomposites with custom-tailored photonic functionality, is a necessary strategy. This review describes the necessary multiscale modeling and provides an example of modeling guided synthesis. Characterization methods are also described, together with some demonstrative results. These novel materials would have a broad and transformative impact in many technological areas by enabling on-demand roll-to-roll fabrication of flexible chiral photonic polymer based-materials with unprecedented throughput and manufacturing efficiency.