We employ a homogenization technique based on the Lorentz electronic theory to show that planar chiral structures (PCSs) can be described by an effective dielectric tensor similar to that of biaxial elliptically dichroic crystals. Such a crystal is shown to behave like a PCS insofar as it exhibits its characteristic optical properties, namely, corotating elliptical polarization eigenstates and asymmetric, direction-dependent transmission for left- or right-handed incident wave polarization.

The electronic Lorentz theory is employed to explain the optical properties of planar split-ring metamaterials. Starting from the dynamics of individual free carriers, the electromagnetic response of an individual split-ring meta-atom is determined, and the effective permittivity tensor of the metamaterial is calculated for normal incidence of light. Whenever the split ring lacks in-plane mirror symmetry, the corresponding permittivity tensor has a crystallographic structure of an elliptically dichroic medium, and the metamaterial exhibits optical properties of planar chiral structures. Its transmission spectra are different for right-handed versus left-handed circular polarization of the incident wave, so the structure changes its transmittance when the direction of incidence is reversed. The magnitude of this change is shown to be related to the geometric parameters of the split ring. The proposed approach can be generalized to a wide variety of metal-dielectric metamaterial geometries.

Dispersionless surface polaritons at twist boundaries of transparent uniaxial crystals are investigated. Exact analytical expressions for the central angles of the sectors of propagation of the...

Influence of material anisotropy and gyrotropy on optical properties of fractal multilayer nanostructures is theoretically investigated. Gyrotropy is found to uniformly rotate the output polarization for bi-isotropic multilayers of arbitrary geometrical structure without any changes in transmission spectra. When introduced in a polarization splitter based on a birefringent fractal multilayer, isotropic gyrotropy is found to resonantly alter output polarizations without shifting of transmission peak frequencies. The design of frequency-selective absorptionless polarizers for polarization-sensitive integrated optics is outlined.