Screw split ring resonator as building block of three-dimensional chiral metamaterials

We proposed and numerically investigated the influence of spatial topology on the infrared frequency region response of chiral metamaterials based on discrete deformed split ring resonators. Compared with the well studied continuous helix, the proposed metamaterials with discrete topology exhibit broad band chiral electromagnetic response. It is shown that the conversion between left and right circular polarization waves for our model is much broader than the continuous helix model. The observed cross-coupling between electric and magnetic fields results from the chiral electric currents on the resonators due to the broken mirror symmetry. The findings are useful for the design of future real three-dimensional chiral metamaterials with tunable optical response.