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

Abstract

A new optical state is described both analytically and numerically at the boundary of a chiral medium with continuous helical symmetry of the dielectric tensor. The tangential wave number is assumed to be zero. The state appears to be localized near the boundary. It does not transfer energy along this boundary and falls off exponentially with the distance from the boundary. The field penetration into chiral medium is blocked at wavelengths close to the helical pitch and corresponding to the photonic band gap. The polarization of light near the boundary has the same sign of chirality as the helical medium. It is shown that the homogeneous environment, or the substrate must exhibit the anisotropic metallic reflection. Spectral manifestation of the state is determined by the angle between the optical axes at the interface. A realistic example is considered at the boundary of a cholesteric liquid crystal and a metal-dielectric anisotropic nanocomposite.