We studied theoretically optical spectra when circularly polarized light obliquely impinges on a slab of a chiral photonic structure with linearly and uniformly spatial varying pitch. The material that we considered locally has a $\overline{4}2m$ point-group symmetry and presents Pockels effect, hence, we controlled optical spectra by a low frequency (DC) electric field applied along the nonhomogeneity axis. The spectra display a Bragg-type broadband, where the edge wavelengths of the photonic band are expressed in terms of the medium parameters and the external electric-field magnitude. This allows us to select the region of the electromagnetic spectrum, where the band could become as broad as we choose. We studied three samples with iridescent, silver, and golden colors due to their reflection properties. We observed an enhancement as well as a broadening of the optical band by the application of the electric field. We found that, under certain conditions, when the optical band is practically absent, a very broad band could be created (comparable to the whole visible spectrum) when a DC electric field is applied. This is the result of electro-optic contributions in the permittivity tensor elements, which give rise to a tremendous increase in both the rotatory power and dichroism. Therefore, these media could be used as electrically controlled broadband frequency and polarization filters. Moreover, we observed the usual blueshift of the band as the incidence angle of light increases and an asymmetry in the reflection band amplitude as the incidence angle of the light increases, depending on whether the pitch increases or decreases and the pitch gradient; which endows the sample with different reflection colors for different gradients and incidence angles of the light. The asymmetry in the reflection band vanishes as the magnitude of the electric field increases.

• Received 25 March 2020
• Accepted 23 June 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.104.013519