Chiral optical Tamm states at the boundary of the medium with helical symmetry of the dielectric tensor

Abstract

A new optical state at the boundary of a chiral medium whose dielectric tensor has a helical symmetry is described analytically and numerically. The case of zero tangential wavenumber is considered. The state localized near the boundary does not transfer energy along this boundary and decreases exponentially with the distance from the boundary. The penetration of the field into the chiral medium is blocked at wavelengths corresponding to the photonic band gap and close to the pitch of the helix. The polarization of light near the boundary has the same sign of chirality as the helical symmetry. It is shown that the homogeneous environment or a substrate should exhibit anisotropic metallic reflection. The spectral manifestation of the state is determined by the angle between the optical axes of the media at the interface. A state at the interface between a cholesteric liquid crystal and an anisotropic metal–dielectric nanocomposite was considered as an example.