Optical analogues of quantum chirality

Abstract

We show that the quantum chirality of charge carriers in graphene can be mimicked in optical structures. More precisely, we demonstrate that the particular form of the transmission coefficient at an interface in graphene between regions with different parameters can be retrieved in optics in either isotropic, gyrotropic and electro-optic materials or in complex conjugate materials. Quantitative analogies are found, at least in some parameter range, between optical and quantum parameters for which the transmission coefficient is similar in the optical and quantum cases, and hence the optical fields and quantum wavefunctions propagate in a similar manner.