Harmonic distortions enhance circular dichroism of dielectric single gyroids.

The departure from strict periodic order in two-phase dielectric materials can offer properties that are otherwise inaccessible to perfectly ordered photonic crystals. Herewith, we investigate the circular dichroism of the single gyroid photonic crystal in the presence of spatial distortions. FDTD simulations and microwave transmission measurements on 3D-printed replicas show that certain harmonic long-wavelength spatial distortions ("sinusoidal chirp") nearly doubles the imbalance of the circular polarisation reflectances, as well as significantly strengthens polarisation-incoherent reflectance. The observed changes are partially rationalised by comparison with simpler distortion models (linear chirp and tetragonal deformation) of the Gyroid.