Photoexcitation circular dichroism in chiral molecules
Beaulieu S, Comby A, Descamps D, Fabre B, Garcia GA, Geneaux R, Harvey AG, Legare F, Masin Z, Nahon L, Ordonez AF, Petit S, Pons B, Mairesse Y, Smirnova O, Blanchet V (2018)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2018
Journal
Book Volume: 14
Pages Range: 484-489
Journal Issue: 5
DOI: 10.1038/s41567-017-0038-z
Abstract
Chiral effects appear in a wide variety of natural phenomena and are of fundamental importance in science, from particle physics to metamaterials. The standard technique of chiral discrimination - photoabsorption circular dichroism - relies on the magnetic properties of a chiral medium and yields an extremely weak chiral response. Here, we propose and demonstrate an orders of magnitude more sensitive type of circular dichroism in neutral molecules: photoexcitation circular dichroism. This technique does not rely on weak magnetic effects, but takes advantage of the coherent helical motion of bound electrons excited by ultrashort circularly polarized light. It results in an ultrafast chiral response and the efficient excitation of a macroscopic chiral density in an initially isotropic ensemble of randomly oriented chiral molecules. We probe this excitation using linearly polarized laser pulses, without the aid of further chiral interactions. Our time-resolved study of vibronic chiral dynamics opens a way to the efficient initiation, control and monitoring of chiral chemical change in neutral molecules at the level of electrons.
Involved external institutions
Institut national de physique nucléaire et de physique des particules (IN2P3)
France (FR)
Synchrotron SOLEIL
France (FR)
École Polytechnique - Université Paris-Saclay
France (FR)
Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS) de l'Université du Québec
Canada (CA)
Max-Born-Institut für Nichtlineare Optik und Kurzzeitspektroskopie im Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. / Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy
Germany (DE)
France (FR)
Synchrotron SOLEIL
France (FR)
École Polytechnique - Université Paris-Saclay
France (FR)
Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS) de l'Université du Québec
Canada (CA)
Max-Born-Institut für Nichtlineare Optik und Kurzzeitspektroskopie im Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. / Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy
Germany (DE)
How to cite
APA:
Beaulieu, S., Comby, A., Descamps, D., Fabre, B., Garcia, G.A., Geneaux, R.,... Blanchet, V. (2018). Photoexcitation circular dichroism in chiral molecules. Nature Physics, 14(5), 484-489. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-017-0038-z
MLA:
Beaulieu, Samuel, et al. "Photoexcitation circular dichroism in chiral molecules." Nature Physics 14.5 (2018): 484-489.
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