Chiral high-harmonic generation in metasurfaces

Abstract: High-harmonic generation (HHG) provides the only source of attosecond pulses -- currently the shortest accessible time intervals, and it is employed as the only table-top source of light in extreme UV and soft X-ray spectral regions. Chiral HHG can be employed as an efficient tool for studying the ultrafast response of chiral properties of matter, as well as for amplifying chiroptical effects. Traditionally, chiral high harmonics were associated with gases of enantiomer molecules or, more recently, solid surfaces with helicity in their crystalline structure. Here, we bring the concept of chiral high-harmonic generation to nanophotonics, specifically to metasurfaces consisting of arrays of nanoresonators. Our system is achiral at the material as well as at the level of individual nanoresonators. Chirality rises and falls in a controlled manner via an interplay of the nanoresonator symmetry and the symmetry of the metasurface lattice. Our calculations predict high contrast in harmonic brightness between the two orthogonal circular polarizations of the pump. Our findings, at the intersection of chiral nanophotonics and strong-field optics, pave the way for chiral attosecond physics and chiral extreme UV optics in nanostructured solids.