On-chip twisted hollow-core light cages: enhancing planar photonics with 3D nanoprinting

Twisted optical fibers are a promising platform for manipulating circularly polarized light and orbital angular momentum beams for applications such as nonlinear frequency conversion, optical communication, or chiral sensing. However, integration into chip-scale technology is challenging because twisted fibers are incompatible with planar photonics and the achieved twist rates are limited. Here, we address these challenges by introducing the concept of 3D-nanoprinted on-chip twisted hollow-core light cages. We show theoretically and experimentally that the geometrical twisting of light cages forces the fundamental core mode of a given handedness to couple with selected higher-order core modes, resulting in strong circular dichroism (CD). These chiral resonances result from the angular momentum harmonics of the fundamental mode, allowing us to predict their spectral locations and the occurrence of circular birefringence. Twisted light cages enable very high twist rates and CD, exceeding those of twisted hollow-core fibers by more than two orders of magnitude (twist period, 90 μm; CD, 0.8 dB∕mm). Moreover, the unique cage design provides lateral access to the central core region, enabling future applications in chiral spectroscopy. Therefore, the presented concept opens a path for translating twisted fiber research to on-chip technology, resulting in a new platform for integrated chiral photonics.