Research Center for Advanced Chiral Optical Materials

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Center Overview

Center Objectives

Chirality is a property in which an object and its mirror image cannot be superposed onto each other by rotations and translations. There are many cases of chirality in the chemical structure and arrangement of both natural and artificial substances, and it is an important factor that determines the efficacy of pharmaceuticals and the properties of functional materials. On the other hand, circularly-polarized light and optical vortex are chiral electromagnetic waves possessing the chirality of the electromagnetic-field vector (polarization) and of the phase distribution, respectively. These chiral waves are applied to selective detection of chemical species, biosensing, and next-generation optical information processing.
At this research center, we aim, through precisely controlled light-matter interactions, to develop novel photonic and optical sciences/technologies based on strong nonlinear cooperation between multiple chiralities in light waves and matter.

Research Direction and Future Prospects

We create novel functionalities that arise from collaborations among multiple characteristics of light waves, among hybridized materials, and between light waves and materials by means of experimental techniques, theoretical modeling, and numerical simulations.

Chiral optical properties induced by chiral environments

When dyes/pigments that absorb and emit light are hybridized with chiral materials, the resulting composites exhibit responses to circularly-polarized light (matter-matter interaction). By establishing a simple and versatile hybridization method, we will construct chiral optical systems using a variety of dye/pigment species.

Macroscopic behavior of chiral media

The macro-scale behavior of chiral media can be controlled by optical vortices (light-matter interaction). We will clarify the individual effects of each chirality through observation of the differences in behavior arising from the combination of material and optical chiralities.

Novel chiral optical phenomena by concerting circularly-polarized light and optical vortices

By precisely controlling the input and output behavior of circularly-polarized light and optical vortices using a material that combines a dye/pigment with a chiral medium, we will create new and novel chiral optical phenomena that emerge from the strong coupling of two types of chirality in light waves.