Chiral light in single-handed Fabry-Perot resonators

Abstract

Abstract Chirality is a universal phenomenon that is encountered on many different length scales in nature. Interaction of chiral matter with chiral light results in the effect of circular dichroism, which underlies many techniques of discriminating molecular enantiomers. Enhancing dichroic effects is typically achieved by interfacing chiral matter with various optical resonators. In this context it is important to understand how the eigenmodes of optical cavities relate to the field states with well-defined handedness. Here, we present the model of a single-handedness chiral optical cavity supporting only an eigenmode of a given handedness without the presence of modes of other helicity. Resonant excitation of the cavity with light of appropriate handedness enables formation of a helical standing wave with a uniform chirality density, while the opposite handedness does not cause any resonant effects. Our findings expand the set of tools for investigations of chiral matter and open the door towards studies of chiral electromagnetic vacuum states.