Deciphering light transformation in chiral metasurface in real space and time by ultrafast electron microscopy

Ling Tong; Fei Xie; Xiaochen Gao; Yuxuan Chen; Shaozheng Ji; Bin Zhang; Jing Li; Jiangteng Guo; Fang Liu; Cuntao Gao; Min Feng; Wei Wu; Shibin Deng; Yiming Pan; Yunquan Liu; Jingjun Xu; Mengxin Ren; Xuewen Fu

doi:10.1038/s41377-025-02163-8

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Deciphering light transformation in chiral metasurface in real space and time by ultrafast electron microscopy

Original Articles

- Deciphering light transformation in chiral metasurface in real space and time by ultrafast electron microscopy
- Deciphering light transformation in chiral metasurface in real space and time by ultrafast electron microscopy
- Light: Science & Applications 2026年15卷第3期页码：793-803
- Affiliations：
  
  1.The Key Laboratory of Weak-Light Nonlinear Photonics, School of Physics, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
  2.College of Science, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding 071001, China
  3.Department of Electrical Engineering Physical Electronics, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv 6997801, Israel
  4.State Key Laboratory for Mesoscopic Physics and Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
  5.The TEDA institute of Applied Physics, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
  6.Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
  7.State Key Laboratory of Quantum Functional Materials, School of Physical Science and Technology and Center for Transformative Science, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 200031, China
- Author bio：
  
  Yunquan Liu (yunquan.liu@pku.edu.cn)
  Jingjun Xu (jjxu@nankai.edu.cn)
  Mengxin Ren (ren_mengxin@nankai.edu.cn)
  Xuewen Fu (xwfu@nankai.edu.cn)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-025-02163-8
  中图分类号：
- 收稿：2025-05-07，
  
  修回：2025-11-21，
  
  录用：2025-12-07，
  
  网络首发：2026-01-14，
  
  纸质出版：2026-03-31
- Accepted：
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Ling Tong, Fei Xie, Xiaochen Gao, 等. Deciphering light transformation in chiral metasurface in real space and time by ultrafast electron microscopy[J]. Light: Science & Applications, 2026,15(3):793-803.

Tong, L. et al. Deciphering light transformation in chiral metasurface in real space and time by ultrafast electron microscopy. Light: Science & Applications, 15, 793-803 (2026).
Ling Tong, Fei Xie, Xiaochen Gao, 等. Deciphering light transformation in chiral metasurface in real space and time by ultrafast electron microscopy[J]. Light: Science & Applications, 2026,15(3):793-803. DOI： 10.1038/s41377-025-02163-8.

Tong, L. et al. Deciphering light transformation in chiral metasurface in real space and time by ultrafast electron microscopy. Light: Science & Applications, 15, 793-803 (2026). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-025-02163-8.

摘要

Abstract

Optical activity in chiral structures

i.e.

circular dichroism (CD)

has led to significant advances in nanoscale optical manipulation

including chiral metasurfaces

helicoid crystals

and chiral macromolecules. Although the local geometric design of chiral structures fundamentally governs their optical responses

the microscopic origin of CD remains unresolved due to the inability to probe optical chirality generation and local geometry effects with sufficient spatiotemporal resolution. Here

we unveil the light transformation process in a Γ-shaped chiral metasurface by combining far-field ellipticity measurements with direct near-field imaging at nanometer-femtosecond scale using photon-induced near-field electron microscopy (PINEM). By decomposing the near-field distributions into local symmetric and asymmetric components

we define a near-field ellipticity that quantitatively follows the wavelength-dependent far-field ellipticity. Finite-element simulations reveal that an electric dipole at the top-right corner of the Γ-shaped meta-atom dominates the ellipticity

which increases as the dipole contribution grows with wavelength. Crucially

time-resolved PINEM reveals that asymmetric near-fields dissipate faster than the symmetric counterparts by tens to hundreds of femtoseconds

indicating chiral-geometry-dependent energy dissipation pathways. This work provides microscopic insight into light transformation in chiral structures and lays the foundation for advanced chiral photonic device design.

关键词

Keywords

references

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