English

Observation of Janus Chirality for Coherent Thermal Emission from Metasurfaces

Optics 2026-02-02 v1

Abstract

Metasurfaces emerged as a powerful tool for controlling thermal radiation, yet achieving coherent emission with opposite circular handednesses remains a highly challenging problem. Here, we demonstrate experimentally the Janus chiral thermal emission from metasurfaces with opposite circular handednesses on either side of a single device. We employ anisotropic metasurfaces supporting high-Q resonances with photonic flatbands enabling near-unity circular dichroism through in-plane symmetry control. Our experiments confirm the Janus coherent emission, and they are validated by the results of the coupled-mode theory. The flatband resonant metasurfaces enabling a control of chiral thermal emission provide an efficient platform for spin-controlled light-matter interaction.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.22506,
  title  = {Observation of Janus Chirality for Coherent Thermal Emission from Metasurfaces},
  author = {Kaili Sun and Yangjian Cai and Maxim V. Gorkunov and Yuri Kivshar and Zhanghua Han},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.22506},
  year   = {2026}
}