Differential absorption of circularly polarized light by a centrosymmetric crystal

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Parrish, Katherine A.; Salij, Andrew; Kamp, Kendall R.; Smith, Evan; Utama, M. Iqbal Bakti; Bergsten, Anders J.; Czerwinski, Rachel; Smith, Mackinsey A.; Hersam, Mark C.; Poeppelmeier, Kenneth R.; Goldsmith, Randall H.; Tempelaar, Roel
• 署名单位: University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Madison; Northwestern University; United States Department of Energy (DOE); Los Alamos National Laboratory; Northwestern University
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-8668
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adr5478
• 发表日期: 2025-06-12
• 页码: 1194-1197
• 关键词: optical-activity; anisotropic media; thin-films; dichroism; propagation; reflection; SCATTERING; SPECTRA

摘要

Crystalline solids are governed by universal structure-property relationships derived from their crystal symmetry, leading to paradigmatic rules on what properties they can and cannot exhibit. A long-held structure-property relationship is that centrosymmetric crystals cannot differentially absorb circularly polarized light. In this study, we demonstrate the design, synthesis, and characterization of the centrosymmetric material Li2Co3(SeO3)(4), which violates this relationship not by defying symmetry-imposed selection rules but by invoking a photophysical process not previously characterized for crystalline solids. This process originates from an interference between linear dichroism and linear birefringence, referred to as LD-LB, and involves strong chiroptical signals that invert upon sample flipping. In addition to enabling a chiroptical response under centrosymmetry, this process opens up photonic engineering opportunities based on crystalline solids.