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  • Open Access

Chiral Cavities Made from Lattices of Highly Electromagnetically Chiral Scatterers

Lukas Rebholz1,*, Carsten Rockstuhl1,2, and Ivan Fernandez-Corbaton2

  • *Contact author: lukas.rebholz@kit.edu
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 103802 – Published 11 March, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/bchn-b47c

Abstract

The infamous weakness of molecular chiroptical responses challenges the all-optical realization of crucial applications such as enantio-selective sorting of chiral molecules, or biasing chiral chemical reactions. Chiral optical cavities are a natural choice for confronting this challenge. Ideally, the dissymmetry between the two helicities inside such cavities is maximized. Here, we propose a chiral infrared optical cavity formed by planar mirrors made of diffracting lattices of silver helices with almost maximum electromagnetic chirality. It combines the strong helicity selectivity of the helices with the helicity-preserving reflectivity that planar systems show at large incidence angles. For the manifold of cavity modes that have a component with zero in-plane momentum, we demonstrate an unprecedented dissymmetry of 95% inside the cavity at the target frequency, making it a compelling candidate for enantio-selective applications.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 103802– Published 11 March, 2026
  • Received 14 July 2025
  • Accepted 10 February 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

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