Circular-polarization-sensitive absorption in refractory metamaterials composed of molybdenum zigzag arrays.

Circularly polarized light (CPL) is utilized in various fields, including optical communication and biological imaging. To overcome the lack of circular-polarization-sensitive absorbers working at high temperature, a refractory and circular-polarization-sensitive absorber comprised of molybdenum zigzag arrays is proposed. At certain resonant wavelengths, one component of circular polarization is absorbed by confining electromagnetic field in the dielectric layer, while the other component is backscattered. The circular-polarization-sensitive absorber could be applied as a CPL thermal radiator as well as a reflective linear-to-circular polarizer. As a CPL thermal radiator, left-handed circular radiation and right-handed circular radiation are dominant at different temperatures, respectively. As a linear-to-circular polarizer, both perfect left-handed circularly polarized light and nearly perfect right-handed circularly polarized light are obtained.